Our Wind Will Shake the Earth and Stars
by saiyuri-dahlia
Summary: Researching the Oocca, Link and Shad discover that Hyrule is not all fair and balanced as it seems and, when they try to help, meet an unexpected resistance. Sometimes to set the world right, you have to unsettle things a bit. Link/Shad
1. Chapter 1

Story Title: Our Wind Will Shake the Earth and Stars

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.

Author's Notes: As mentioned in the summary, this fic will contain an eventual slash pairing between Link and Shad. Like everything I write, this fic is planned to be long. There will also be a few slight not-in-canon changes here and there, one notably being Shad's minor special ability. I suppose that's all for now. Thanks for reading.

-o-

Chapter One: Many Meetings, Many Partings

-o-

Dashing out of Faron Woods and onto Hyrule Field, Link rushed Epona out onto the open plain, strangely without monsters since his defeat of Ganondorf many months ago. So it seemed with the death of the dark king, most of the monsters went into hiding and, evident of that, there were no reports from the townsfolk of Castle Town of villagers attacked or of trade routes raided. The Zora swam in iceless, free-flowing rivers and the Gorons wrestled and mined the hills of a quiet Death Mountain. Going the way of how all heroic tales ended, Hyrule was finally at peace.

Link slowed Epona to a light walk and gazed across the green field. He smelled the new grass crushed under her hooves and the scent of hay in her tawny mane. The warm early afternoon sun kissed his face and the day's gentle breeze ruffled his short sandy blonde hair in welcome. The day was clear, bright, and beautiful with nary a gray cloud in sight. It was the kind of day that would perk the stoniest of hearts to acts of kindness.

But Link knew better. His meeting and traveling with Midna had taught him better. Link supposed he always had an intuition for sensing trouble, but his time as a wolf had truly awakened his innate instincts. Even now, fully human, Link felt the wolf within him, heightening his senses.

_Everything seems quiet_, Link thought, gazing out across the empty plain. _Let's see if it really is._

Link raised his head and sniffed the air as his blue eyes quickly surveyed his surroundings. There was no sign or yell of danger, as there hadn't been for months, but there _still_ was an undercurrent in the air, a forbidding swell of caution that made Link bare his teeth and bristle like a snarling wolf in its presence. Ilia would call him battle-restless—in fact, since he confided to her his unease for Hyrule, she rarely called him anything else.

It was a point of tension between them now with Ilia constantly claiming he was battle-restless and Link strongly denying he wasn't. Since he was not a talkative fellow, Link had thought he had simply poorly explained his foreboding. Two days ago, he had tried clarifying to Ilia better how he truly sensed an unrest still in Hyrule. She scoffed at him then and cited the overwhelming goodwill and harmony in the world now. They had wound up fighting, louder and fiercer than they ever had before—mostly because this time Link actually participated and fought for his side (much to Ilia's surprise), instead of just letting Ilia yell at him until she was done like he had used to.

Their argument, which had remained mostly civil, loud but civil to a fine razor's point, came to an ugly turn when Ilia had shouted in front of everyone in the village that Link hoped for something horrendous to happen just so he could run off and fight.

Staring hard down at the reins in his tightly curled fingers, Link frowned. Even after a night and a day's long rest, Ilia's anger and insinuation still burned raw in his chest. Being around her now would only lead to their fighting again, and that wasn't helping repair their raveling friendship or saving Hyrule. Link needed answers and he wasn't getting any remaining in Ordon. Link had decided that morning he would ride out on Epona and prove one of them right or wrong. He had left the Mayor's house moments ago, informing Bo of his plans and knowing Ilia had overheard his every word. As he departed, the children came out to wish him luck and gave their farewells.

Ilia had not.

_I'm not surprised_, Link thought. _We're both stubborn and too proud for our own good, but I wish she had come out. …I would've for her. _

Epona turned her head and snorted in annoyance at Link. Simply lightly meandering here and there tried her patience and she had decided that Link had a long enough swim in his head and needed to get moving.

Link bent down and rubbed the side of her coppery neck. "Sorry, girl," he whispered close to her ear and took up the reins. With a swift crack and call, Link charged Epona forward.

If there really was any evil still remaining in Hyrule, there was only one place in the land to go to find out. If they did not know, no one else would.

-o-

"Link! Well, if this isn't a surprise… Been a long time since you've walked into my bar, honey," Telma flashed Link her usual smile, warm and fond with always a twist of playfulness to it, as she put away her account books. As soon as Link reached the bar, Telma grabbed and pulled him into a hug.

The maternal embrace surprised Link. He didn't think until now how long his last visit to Castle Town and Telma's Bar had been. It also hadn't occurred to Link until her tight hug that Telma might have missed him or would've wanted to know if he was well. The least he could have done was send the Postman with a letter to her once in a while. Or well, at least once. The idea had never occurred to him to do so.

Link eventually slipped out of her thick arms and stood in front of the bar. "Sorry, ma'am," Link canted his eyes away from Telma's smiling face, "I've been home, back in Ordon, for a while now."

Louise rubbed and arched against his boots. Link picked her up and stroked her back as she lay against his chest and rested her front paws on his left shoulder. The proud Persian nuzzled her flat, furry face against his neck and purred. She had missed him too, so it seemed.

Link was truly sorry for not visiting as much as he should have, especially when they were both used to him frequenting the place. Telma was a friend and she was happy to see him, no doubt because his being there answered all her concerns about him. Link's long absence had worried her, and Link had difficulty meeting her eyes out of guilt, so he focused on Louise and let holding her be his excuse for not raising up to match Telma's sight.

Telma saw through his show. It would take Hylians much older and more inclined to subterfuge than Link to fool the buxom bar mistress, he knew that. She pursed her painted lips and looked at him in her clever, off-to-the-side manner and scrutinized him. She knew something bothered him, that he could recognize. Link wondered if her gaze was simply an innate ability of hers or a refined skill crafted over years of serving the public. In truth, he would never know.

"How's Ilia?" she asked. "Everything all right between you two?"

Link winced. He hadn't meant to. He simply had. Like plunging a pin into his side, Telma's words had struck him with a fine precision and painful recent memories of their arguing.

Realizing she had made a mistake in mentioning Ilia, Telma stared back at him, her eyes open and her eyebrows raised in mild surprise. She had an apology on her barely parted lips but just had yet to find the appropriate words to say. Link didn't need her apology. He had already forgiven her. Telma hadn't known Ilia was a sore subject for him right now and Link couldn't bear her bitterness for merely making conversation and showing concern.

Louise growled low and wriggled in Link's arms. She leapt onto the countertop, swept her ears back, and narrowed her eyes at Link in a show of defense. Link realized then how fiercely tense he was. Since their fighting, thinking of Ilia drew a sour anger from the depths of his many feelings for her that polluted all the other emotions he felt and exposed itself subtly on his face. Having once had an animal's senses himself, he knew that Louise could pick up on his underlining emotions. To calm her and himself, Link closed his eyes, breathed deeply, and relaxed.

When ready, Link reopened his eyes and forced a smile. "She's fine. Things are a bit different between us…" Link said as he looked down and smoothed his hand across the side of his floppy green hat. He winced again, this time at himself for not presenting the most confident picture, and hastily added, "…But we'll patch up."

"Of course, honey," Telma said and smiled, offering neither a comfort nor a discouragement to Link. He wished she had said something reassuring in response—he could have used the strength of her kindness.

Link only had a moment to dwell on Ilia before Telma diverted his attention. She practically tipped herself over the counter leaning in to meet his face as she brightened and broadened her smile. "Been to Kakariko Village of lately? The shaman ever asks of me?"

Link stared wide-eyed back at Telma's close face. "No, ma'am," he said, shaking his head. "As I said, I've been in Ordon, so as far as I know, he hasn't."

"Well!" Telma huffed and brusquely straightened to standing, her hands on each of her wide hips and her eyes sharp. "The man's hands can work miracles, but heaven forbid they scratch out a single letter!"

The bar mistress sighed loudly, turned to the side and muttered angrily to herself. Once she at last calmed down, Telma laid one hand over and massaged her furrowed brow and crossed her free arm under her bosom. "…And Link, call me Telma. You're a stubborn horse that refuses to break on that, y'know, honey?"

Link nodded, "I suppose I am and I will, ma'—Telma."

At that, Telma smiled. "Our Group is meeting today, as you can probably tell. Why don't you pull up a seat and stay awhile?" She asked, winking.

Link nodded and raised his hand in a short farewell to her and proceeded past the pulled-aside curtain to the warmly lighted room adjacent to the public bar. Rusl, Auru, and Ashei were already present with Rusl and Auru sitting in their usual chairs while Ashei preferred to stand.

"How unexpected to see you, Master Link, but good to see you well nonetheless," Auru said and tipped his head down and back up grimly.

Though his greeting was amiable and Auru was a kind man, there was always a gruff and severe quality to his appearance and deep voice that always seemed to edge out no matter what he said. Link had always thought of Auru as like some of the old male goats back in Ordon—the ones that looked too old to charge but, when provoked, chased and rammed Fado around the ranch until Link could save him. Actually, Auru was more approachable than the goats, but Link never wanted to push his luck and always remained very respectful.

Link returned Auru's reception with a short bow and a polite, acknowledging nod.

"Well, we were missing Shad and here comes Link. He's good enough or better, so let's get this meeting started, yeah?" Ashei said.

It was hard to tell with her deadpan expression if the partially-armored young woman was joking or not in her light jab at her fellow Group member. She always appeared at first meet rather dour and hard of heart, though in truth, her tough image contrasted with her kindness and good intentions to protect Hyrule.

"Shad's missing?" Link asked the Group.

"Not missing. Simply late," Rusl said, removing his helmet and smiling at Link. He had been the first and only one to smile, though with Link practically like a younger brother to him, it wasn't surprising that he would greet the young Hylian so warmly. All that amazed Link about Rusl's appearance was that, in these few months of peace, his son Colin had become much more like his father, in appearance and more so in courage.

"Typically, Shad is the first here," Rusl explained, giving a nod to Shad's customary but vacant seat across from him, "but when I arrived, he said something about quickly investigating a nearby Owl Statue and took off and has yet to return."

_He's probably at the Owl Statue just outside the western gate_, Link noted._ It's the only statue close enough to walk to from Castle Town._

Ashei snorted, breaking Link from his thoughts, and cracked a small smirk, "I can see that happening from him with his up-in-the-clouds mind." She laid her right hand on her same hip and gestured with her left. "Link, if he's on the hunt for his sky beings, he'll never get back here on his own, so go fetch him for us so we can start the meeting already, yeah?"

Link nodded, and with little wait, he turned and hurried out the door.

-o-

Taking from a pocket of his light rose-colored waistcoat a folded monogrammed handkerchief, Shad dabbed the sweat from his forehead and hastily returned his late father's present back to the safety of his waistcoat's pocket, all while remaining crouched on the flat top of a high pillar that no longer held an Owl Statue, despite Shad's previous and verified knowledge that said it once had.

Oh the Owl Statue was still there… It had simply moved. It was behind him now, standing between the high pillar and the high stone stairs like a convenient stepping stone to the top of the pillar. Whoever had moved it, and Shad had no doubt that someone had since statues did not move by themselves, the scholar was certain the person (or persons) had used some form of magic to do so. Shad, still crouched, pressed his hand level on the stone's carved surface, closed his eyes, and concentrated.

Most Hylians were inclined to magic and its use, though few Hylians possessed any magical abilities whatsoever, at least not among its commoners. The royal family was another sort, of course. Not that Shad was by any means related to the royal family—his blood was as common as could be and the strength of his magical ability reflected his ancestry appropriately.

Shad had inherited his gift from his father, who quite shockingly had a considerable amount of magic for a man of his modest standing. His father once told Shad that he could cast a veil of invisibility on anything he touched and cast doubt in a person's thoughts, generally on the whereabouts of the items he held. Though Shad's father served as a butler for the royal family, his father's passions lay in the scholarly pursuit of the research and life-long study of Hyrule's historical artifacts and ancient ruins, and his father's powers came in handy if the butler ever wished to procure said artifacts for his own collection. That was how—much to Shad's embarrassment and anxiety over his much-revered father's shadier practices—Shad's father secretly came to own many of Hyrule's greatest ancient treasures.

Only the royal family's assembly rivaled his father's, and even it was not exclusive. He never stole from the royal family—Shad's father merely 'borrowed' objects for study and research purposes. He always eventually returned the relics, albeit with the greatest reluctance and not without a nervous Shad constantly reminding (in other words, begging) his father to do so once his study was complete.

Shad's power, however, was feeble in comparison and bore no impact on his day-to-day life. It was most helpful as a minor aid to his studies and even then had its limits. All Shad could do was sense the presence of magic or the magic's residual vibrations in an object by touch and nothing else. Generally, he could recognize if the magic was innate of the item or had been cast upon by an outsider but nothing else. More often than not, the use of his power frustrated him more than helped him. Like now, for instance.

Shad stood, careful not to scuff the stone's carving with his boots, and sighed in disappointment. He knew now that someone had used magic on the Owl Statue and that there had been magic inherent in the carving, but it vexed him that he had not been present to see what ritual had occurred here or learned what knowledge had been obtained.

_The magic is gone and so are its secrets_, Shad frowned and furrowed his brow in a manner his mother—if she ever left her family's meager estate and were present beside him—would have reprimanded him for because it was an ugly look for a gentleman to wear as he looked out inattentively on the view of the Great Bridge of Hylia.

_Dear Father, I feel your chagrin from beyond the grave, and you are correct in being disappointed in me. _Shad bowed his head in disgrace._ What sort of researcher am I if I cannot gather information? No doubt the information I lost was imperative to the study of the sky beings. …But, I say, who else but I would search and have need of its use? _

He clenched his hands into firm fists and tightened his jaw, as his concentrated thoughts on the mystery grew more grating and inflammatory. _I do not like this situation at all! _Someone _is going around manipulating the Owl Statues and stealing precious information crucial to my life's work without at all permitting me a chance to observe what laid hidden for myself. Boy, if I ever came across and met the irksome scoundrel who was responsible for all this, I would give him a _stern_ lecture!_

"Shad!"

The sudden call startled the unaware scholar. Shad nearly pitched over the edge of the high pillar, but he managed to catch himself, sort of, on the rim of the pillar. He ungainly tottered on one leg and flailed his arms about in a desperate grasp for the rest of his balance.

Just as he was certain he was about to fall, Shad felt a firm hand grip the center of his back and a strong tug wrenched him reverse. Both his feet landed in the pillar's center and the scholar rediscovered his missing equilibrium. His left hand steadied against his beating heart, Shad stood and caught his quickened breath.

"Are you all right?" said a familiar voice, the voice Shad's memory placed as Link's.

Shad turned and found his memory verified. Link stood atop the Owl Statue watching Shad and appearing to be at the ready for if the scholar needed him to catch him again. _A kind gesture but an unnecessary one_, Shad noted, _for I am, at the moment, stationary._

"Q-Quite all right. Thank you, Link." Shad, still slightly shaken and embarrassed, sunk his gaze. "I'm…" he paused, as he ran a hand through his mousy red hair, "…I'm terribly sorry you had to observe such a _graceless_ display of my athletics, or lack thereof."

"Well, I did scare you," Link said. "…Didn't mean to, though."

Shad brought himself to look Link in the eyes. Of course, Link hadn't meant to scare him, if Link's evident shame at accidentally doing so wasn't enough of an indication. But even without that, Shad had never figured Link would be the sort of person who would do anything out of mean spirit.

"I say, very well then," Shad smiled amiably. "What, pray tell, brings you to my side?"

"I was asked to bring you back to Telma's Bar."

Shad's eyebrows leapt up. _The meeting! Oh how I forgot! Time, what is the time?_ Panicking, Shad searched for a tall shadow among the ruins, and quickly finding one, did the calculations swiftly in his head.

"Oh my…" Shad gasped. "I've been absent longer than I intended." He leaned toward Link and asked in a near-whisper voice, despite their lack of additional company, "…Is everyone really already accounted for?"

Link nodded yes.

"Then we must go! Hurry now, old boy!"

Link easily bounded from the Owl Statue to the ruins steps and waited while Shad, being not as physically limber or inclined as the swordsman, inched himself to the closest distance possible between himself and the top of the Owl Statue. It wasn't so much the difficulty of the leap that concerned Shad but the height at which he had to leap.

The scholar took some time readying his nerves, and eventually, gingerly hopped from the pillar to the statue. Shad barely landed on the statue on one knee—kept safe by the sworn protection of kneepads—and drew himself up to standing and repeated the whole nervous process all over again for the jump to the steps.

Shad leapt for the second time and immediately realized his miscalculation in his haste. His foot did reach the stone step, however it landed awkwardly on the edge. Shad fell backwards. Or he started to, that is. If it were not for Link grabbing his wrist and pulling him forward, he definitely would have.

"That makes twice," Shad said, red in the face and stood hunched over with his hands on his knees while he caught his breath. "Thank you, again, Link."

"Probably shouldn't keep count of that," Link said, offering Shad a weak, cringing sort of smile before he turned and made his way up the ruin's steps.

Shad's pointed ears flushed hot as he straightened and stood at the bottom and watched a blurring Link rise to the top of the stairs. The scholar dropped his gaze down and angled it to the side. He pushed his slipped spectacles back up to his wide blue eyes.

"Yes, I suppose not…" Shad murmured and then took follow.

-o-

Link kept his head low and his eyes curtained by his sandy fringe as he excused himself out of the Group members' meeting room. No one asked him why and Link was grateful for that. He was just as thankful that Telma, standing in the doorframe in the threshold between the two adjacent rooms, did not try to stop him though she watched him, as he walked past.

Link walked to the back of the public bar where he had seen the Postman contemplating what to order and pressed his back against the cool, shadowed wall and slid down to a seat on the stone floor. Though without seeing her do so, he knew that Telma had shot a glance his way but, to his relief, did not come over.

_There's nothing out there_, Link thought, reminding himself again of what each member of the Group had told him. None of them had heard of any distress or great threat to or in Hyrule, and that in fact, because of the blanketing peace in Hyrule, their meeting today was to disband their small party and go their separate ways.

_I was so certain there was _something_ wrong_, Link snatched off his floppy green cap and tossed it into his lap. _But the only thing wrong was me._

_Ilia was right..._ Link closed his eyes and tilted his head back, resting it against the cool wall. _Maybe I am battle-restless._

But Link's instincts told him otherwise. The unrest was in the air, and now in his bones, but it was not fake or simply imagined. Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, Link could not believe there was no sort of danger looming. It had to be a darkness that not even the Group was aware of yet, it had to be.

_I'm sorry, Ilia. You can't be right. I know and feel this to be true. Yes, I can't explain it and you can't understand why I'm so persistent about this danger you can't sense, but this is what it is. _Link frowned._ I would rather end up wrong thinking I'm right than be right and make the wrong choice. I have to go by what I feel and believe. I can't ignore the evil that is out there. So I have to stay gone, at least until this feeling passes and I know Hyrule is safe._

…_I'm sorry._

Link heard chairs scooting across the floor and footsteps from in the other room. The meeting was over, so it seemed. _That didn't take long_, Link thought, _though saying your goodbyes never does, I guess. _He rose from his seat, quickly brushing the dirt from his backside, as the Group members began entering the bar.

"Link," Ashei called as she approached him. "I'm going on another scouting trip to Snowpeak soon. I'm thinking of pushing up to the summit. Want to come? There may be no great evil but plenty of fighting, and more than just the elements, there for you to handle, yeah?"

_Snowpeak? _Link searched his senses but felt no particular foreboding draw to the storming, icy mountain. He shook his head from side to side, "Thanks for offering, but no." _Ashei thinks I'm battle-restless too_, Link thought. _She wouldn't have said that last bit if she didn't._

Ashei nodded in understanding as she flipped back one of her twin raven pigtails and smirked, "If you need me, don't be a stranger, yeah?" She punctuated her goodbye with an affectionate hard punch to Link's shoulder. _She could've removed the metal gauntlet,_ Link thought, wincing and rubbing the bruising skin.

The armored young woman only appeared amused. "Gave you something to remember me by, didn't I, yeah?" Ashei said, giving him a genuine full smile before she left.

Link was not alone for long, however.

"Master Link, may we speak?" Auru asked as he walked up and stood beside the younger Hylian.

Link nodded. "Of course, sir."

"The duty of the protector is to guard what it holds dear or defend what it has been ordered to protect," Auru began, "It is a rare sort of person who makes a perfect protector and few are born, though Hyrule has had many protectors in its history."

"Heroes, sir?" Link said, uncertain of whether interrupting Auru was the right call or not. It seemed okay with the older Hylian, at least he did not appeared offended.

Auru gave an agreeing but tired sigh, "As others have called them, yes." Auru paused. He gave Link a long, searching gaze and then said, "Rusl has explained to me…certain instances of your behavior in your hometown and I see the marks of a protector in you. For someone of your young age and the great trials you have gone through, I fear that your experiences may have imbued you with the belief that you need to constantly be on the defense, so to speak. Am I making sense, Master Link?"

Link nodded. "Yes, sir, but I do not feel that I need to defend myself."

"Or be on the attack, then."

Link shook his head, "No, sir, not that either."

Auru softly groaned and stroked the hairs of his short gray beard contemplatively. Apparently, neither answer was to the old, tanned-skinned Hylian's expectation or patience, but Link did not know what answer he was looking for. If only he asked the right question, Link could give him the reply he wanted.

After a meditative silence, Auru asked, "Do you feel like there is something you must protect? That there is a great danger present? To Hyrule, for instance."

Link's eyes brightened and he nodded readily, "Yes, sir! " And then, he looked down and said,"Er…well, I don't know if it is to Hyrule or something else I must protect, but I do sense danger."

Link dipped his head downward and hooded his eyes, looking and sounding defeated as he spoke, "I've been trying to learn if there is a threat out there but no one seems to know anything, but I feel the warnings all the same. And if Hyrule is in danger, I want to help." The last he said with true confidence, not like Link the Ordon farm boy, but Link, the Hero of Light.

Briefly, Auru frowned as if something Link had said displeased him but that appeared to not be the case as Auru stepped closer and laid a gentle hand on Link's shoulder. "You are too young to be a protector. Go and stay in your hometown. Live your life as you once did before all the chaos."

"But—" Link tried to reason with him, but Auru cut his words with a fine glare.

"Warriors must learn to put their weapons aside in times of peace, " Auru said firmly but without any real anger. "You must learn to readjust. Do not go seeking for what is not there. You will never find happiness or peace that way. You will not like what awaits you if you choose that dark path. Am I understood, Master Link?"

"…Yes, sir," Link agreed reluctantly. "Thank you for your advice." Link gave a short polite bow.

"It is the least I could have done," Auru said, a quiet sadness etching through his austere features and voice as he turned to leave, "…For having played my own hand in turning you into a protector too young and before your time."

He left Link, leaving him curious and uncertain to exactly what he meant, but Link did not have much time to consider Auru's words as his mentor stepped up smiling and rested a hand on Link's shoulder.

"Link, shall we head home?" Rusl asked, as he drew back a stubborn light blonde hair from his eyes, a light green color that always reminded Link of new spring leaves in sunlight and were just as welcoming.

"Actually, sir, " Link said, " I wasn't planning to. Not yet."

The swordsmaster's brotherly smile fell to a disappointed frown. He removed his hand from Link's shoulder and laid it on his hip. "Link, you listened to Auru, didn't you? You should be home—"

"Three days, " Link said quickly and steadfast, meeting Rusl's eyes and speaking to him not as a student to his teacher, or as Rusl's younger brother-figure, but as his equal. "Give me three days. If I find nothing, I will return home and say no more of coming danger. I will follow Auru's advice and your wishes wholeheartedly and live a normal life. I promise." Link offered his hand.

Rusl, quirking a brow, studied Link through his deep pause as he considered Link's words. If Link was correct, his mentor was seeing him as a man for the first time and wasn't certain whether to be proud or frustrated by Link's newfound status.

In the end, the Hylian boy had him beat.

"Very well, Link. Three days." Rusl took Link's offered hand and gave it a single firm shake. Link smiled brightly as Rusl gave a cheerless smile and parted to speak with Telma at the bar before he left. No doubt his mentor was concerned for him, but he gave Link his three days anyway and for sure offered his safe wishes for his journey and return.

Link was preparing to leave himself—three days was not a long time to search across all of Hyrule—when he heard a soft cough and light steps moving toward him.

"Link, if you are not busy, I was…I was wondering if you had a moment to spare to speak," Shad asked, his head tilted low as so to hide his apparent embarrassment to approaching Link.

"Uh, sure." _Odd…_Link thought, watching Shad tremble as he shuffled closer to where Link stood. _He's never had major difficulty speaking to me before… Must be something serious._

Shad, wringing his hands first before he pushed his spectacles back, lifted his head to meet Link but kept his eyes held down to the floor, "Just to clarify things, I would not even trouble you to ask you this if I had not exhausted all other means and was not at my wit's end…"

Link nodded, "Okay, so what…"

Shad continued on without listening to Link. The Hylian scholar had composed his script and was determined to stick to it, even if he had to speak a mile a minute to do so, "After all, you were such an assistance to me in Kakariko Village, and without you, I would still be lost and have not nearly as many answers solved, though as a researcher I am frightfully ashamed at myself for relying on you so greatly and I know my father frowns upon me for adding not nearly as many notes of my own or even _on_ my own, but as I have said, I have no other leads to follow, and…"

"Shad!" Link barked and Shad cringed and pressed his lips shut. Though Link's voice and expression contained no anger or even irritation at the scholar, Shad had reacted as though Link was. Link made sure to sound reassuring when he spoke. "It's all right. Just tell me."

"Ah yes, of c-course…" Shad nodded, a light quiver in his voice. "I was wondering if, in your later travels, if you discovered anything more about the sky beings…"

_Of course he would ask about that_, Link thought, gently chiding himself for not expecting that Shad would ask him about the Oocca from the beginning. It was only the young Hylian scholar's passion and life's work that he studied the mysterious sky beings.

Shad evidently was still speaking, "If you happened upon a clue, even a smattering of one, I would be ever so grateful…"

_Well, I do owe him a debt for reviving the Dominion Rod and modifying the cellar statue, even if he did it accidentally_, Link considered, looking at Shad staring at him with a mix of hope, admiration, and pleading in his big (slightly darker) blue eyes, flecked with the firelight of an oil lamp flickering from the Group's meeting room. _He's always been kind to me and it's hard to say no to the guy, especially when he's like this. _

And Shad really seemed lost and on his last ropes on the mystery of the Oocca, and here, Link had all the answers resting in his palm and was just dangling them above the scholar. It was enough shame to make Link drop his head and stare at the floor in discomfort.

_I didn't treat him right at all…_ Link thought reproachfully. _I owe him then. I owe it to him to show him the City in the Sky._

Link rubbed the back of his head and smiled through his guilt, "Well, I do know a few new things—"

Shad's eyes widened and his smile lit the back of the bar, "Over to the table then and let's hear what you got, old boy!" Shad rushed over to the illuminated table where the Group met, fumbling in one of the leather packs on his belt for a writing implement all along the way, and leaving Link standing where he stood, too slow to stop the enthusiastic scholar in his glee.

"Thank you, Link. I knew my asking you would bear fruit, I knew it would," Shad chatted on excitedly, peppering the rest of his talk with voluble praises of Link, as the scholar quickly took his seat and flipped open his father's worn journal, its once royal purple cover and backing faded to its drab cousin by all the dust embedded in its leather, to a blank page, though he was careful to keep the ornamental dagger in its place.

"Actually, Shad, " Link said, stepping and standing in the door frame between the two rooms, "it would be easier just to show you what I've learned. And I figured you would prefer it that way."

Shad gasped and stared frozen at Link in a manner that made the learned scholar appear anything but until he regained his capacity for speech and cognitive thinking. "Yes, yes, of course," Shad said softly, "When and where do we meet, old boy?"

"Tomorrow morning, Lake Hylia."

"Done and memorized," Shad stood, pushed his chair in, and angled toward Link. "You know, I will sleep little in anticipation for tomorrow's dawn. I wish it was morning already, my friend." Shad extended his hand and Link clasped it.

_Two, no, three shots of liquid courage for the cannon wouldn't be a bad idea, _Link considered advising Shad but kept his lips sealed in a tightly-closed smile and shook the scholar's hand. _That ride's gonna be interesting…_

"Expect to see you tomorrow then," Shad said, smiling.

Link simply nodded and returned the smile. Shad quickly gathered his things and left in a eager haste, though not without beaming and waving to Telma before he left.

"Honey, I don't know what you said to the boy, " Telma wiggled over to where Link stood and wrapped a thick arm around his shoulders, "but I've never seen him fit to burst like that in a _long_ time. You must have said something pretty special to him." She winked and smiled playfully.

"No, ma'am," Link said, a little curious at her wink and smile, "Not really. Just that I agreed to show him what I've learned about the sky beings." _Though, I guess to Shad,_ Link considered,_ that would be pretty special._

"Link, please…" the buxom bar mistress hung her head and breathed a drawn, futile sigh, "Call me Telma."


	2. Chapter 2

Story Title: Our Wind Will Shake the Earth and Stars

Disclaimer: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is not mine.

Author's Notes: Normally I would thank the reviewers of the last chapter here but as there were none, I cannot.

This chapter is short, very short for my usual chapters in fact, but I felt satisfied at leaving where it ended. Thanks for reading.

-o-

Chapter Two: Up and Out, or Shad's High-Flying Nightmare Fuel

-o-

"Sir! Please wait!" Link called from the back of Epona as he raced her onto Hyrule Field toward the drab packhorse bearing Rusl and towing a small cart of supplies from Castle Town.

It was early in the evening with the lemon sun beginning to set and drawing the shadows and dark golden half-light of twilight over Hyrule. Link called again, a more urgent yelp, and this time found the swordmaster's attention. Rusl peered over his shoulder and, seeing Link, slowed the sluggish packhorse to a full stop.

"Link!" Rusl shouted as the young Hylian rushed to reach his stalled cart. "Have you changed your mind? Are you coming home after all?"

Six hours had past since their last meet and the forging of a promise between men that allowed Link three days to search for a danger Rusl (and everyone else, in fact) did not believe existed. Rusl hoped that perhaps in those hours that someone had persuaded him in the safety of Hyrule or that Link himself had came to his senses.

Link had not.

Slowing Epona abruptly, Link calmed Epona as she reared and stamped her hooves in displeasure for the quick halt. Being so focused on catching up with Rusl, Link misjudged Epona's speed and stopped her too quickly, much to her annoyance, so not to dash past Rusl. Link made a note to buy Epona a few apples in apology later.

With Epona settled, Link turned to Rusl and matched sights with the swordsman. "No, sir, I'm not," Link said. "But I thought I ought to tell you that I'm going with Shad to help him on his research."

Link had expected his mentor to smile gently, nod approvingly, and wish him safety, but Rusl did not. Link's smile and the cheer in his voice faded as he watched Rusl bow his head and sigh.

Rusl frowned. "Link… You're not already going back on your promise, are you?" He asked, somber disappointment lining his question.

Link quickly shook his head from side to side. His reaction was apparently too immediate— Rusl's eyes narrowed and stared at Link discerningly. The swordsman now seemed to suspect Link was up to something. Silence, except for the snorts and light stomps from the horses and the magical chime of a golden insect nearby, fell between them.

Rusl deepened his frown, now as deep as the canyons of Death Mountain and just as provoked. "You're not using Shad for more time to search?" Rusl asked, a reprimand in his voice at the ready. "If you are, I am ashamed of you and you should be for yourself. You were raised better, Link."

"I'm not! Honestly, sir!" Link said. "Please believe me that I am helping Shad and only that." The Ordonian-raised Hylian did his best to bow as deeply as possible while on horseback to express his honesty.

Though Link, still bowing, could not see Rusl's face to confirm his senses, he could feel that maybe the older swordsman believed him a bit more. Rusl had certainly gone silent and more contemplative, as if he was considering that Link was telling the truth with more intent.

Link raised and saw Rusl waiting for more proof or a better explanation than Link's just-trust-me response. While normally only giving his word was enough before, Link was changing their promise and doing it rather quickly, so the young Hylian could understand why Rusl was skeptic on the value of his promises now.

"I owe Shad a debt," Link explained, hanging his head in guilt upon remembering his poor treatment of the scholar in the past. "It's a debt I made long before my promise to you."

The swordsman's frown had softened a bit, but it still remained a hard line across his blank face cast in deepening shadows by the sunset setting behind him. Rusl sat back listening and keenly observed Link, his young face still awash in a ray of deep golden twilight.

Darting a glance up at Rusl's eyes, Link noted how his hawk gaze scoured for hints in Link's demeanor as the older swordsman separated the absolute and partial truths of Link's words. But Link was being honest. He wasn't using Shad anymore. This wasn't about conniving for more time to search Hyrule—it was about settling an overdue debt and acting how a hero was supposed to act, which didn't mean using people for their skills and casting them aside when they were of no more use or were in the way.

Gathering the strength to do so, Link met Rusl's gaze to show him the sincerity in his eyes that equaled the sincerity in his voice, "You taught me to honor my promises and debts, sir, and if I can, I still intend on upholding my promise to you, but I have no doubt that three days won't suffice Shad's research."

"But will you really need to be there with him?" Rusl asked, a gentleness in his voice Link had not heard since the beginning of their talk and had missed. "Surely you can escort him there and be back in our agreed three days?"

Link shook his head no, "This place I'm taking him is quite dangerous without the proper know-how and I can't in good faith abandon him there because my three days are up. It's best if I'm there, not only as protection but to help him navigate through some of the more challenging locations."

Link had wanted to say the more impossible locations at first, because in truth, certain places in the City in the Sky would be impossible for Shad to explore without Link's assistance, but had thought against it to stave Rusl worrying for him.

"Yes, I do see," Rusl solemnly nodded. "Though I don't like this sudden amendment to our promise," he paused, sighed airily, and dropped his worn gaze just under Link's. "…But the boy does worry me when he announces he's going on another research expedition and I know Shad will be safe in your care."

"But once you have paid your debt to Shad, you will _immediately _come home, right?" Rusl less so much as asked but ordered Link and gave the young Hylian a strong, serious eye.

"I promise," Link smiled and nodded firmly.

At that, Rusl's demeanor lightened, his smile faint but happy. "Yes, well…I must admit I am relieved to hear the boy will have someone watching over him. Shad is a smart boy with a lot of heart, but he's not his father. In many ways, Shad is just like him, but in other respects, he…well, isn't."

"Was Shad's father a member of the Group too?" Link asked.

"Yes, yes," Rusl nodded readily and smiled more. "He and Auru were our founders. A brilliant man, Shad's father was. It's sad that a man of his caliber was taken from us so soon. You would've liked him, as he would've with you, I'm sure. His company was always enjoyable and lively…" Rusl, his voice and eyes full of happy memories, trailed the rest of his words off before the fact of the fallen Hylian's death could sour the good feeling his remembrance stirred.

Link noticed the sun slipping steadier below the horizon and taking with it precious light to guide Rusl's trip home. Even though the swordsman had a full lantern ready to be lit hanging on a crooked post beside him, Link did not like the thought of Rusl traveling alone at night, not with the disquiet plaguing Hyrule having yet to reveal itself, "Sir, I believe I've kept you long enough. Travel home safely and watch yourself."

Rusl nodded and tightened his grip on his reins, "As you should too, Link. Come home quickly and well. You know…there are many in our village who miss you when you're gone for long."

Link's thoughts wanted to bring an image of Ilia to mind but the young Hylian brushed the thought away before it came to fruition. It was best if he focused his attention on finding the evil hiding in Hyrule and dealt with Ilia when he better could.

"I know. Good luck on your return, sir," Link said, and to his relief, with no harsh emotion in his voice. Getting angry now, for seemingly no reason, would not help anyone at the moment.

"Good luck, Link," Rusl replied and the two swordsmen parted ways—the older one toward Ordon Province and the young one back to Castle Town.

-o-

With a short diversion to the spirit spring and a quick prayer for safety and good luck, Shad hurried, bounding with each step, up the short series of wooden bridges overlooking Lake Hylia in the early morning. The scholar was elated to finally have new possible leads on the sky beings and felt both light in heart and head. It really seemed like the only thing keeping Shad grounded was the weight of the leather rucksack on his back—without it his excitement and good cheer would have swept him up like a great wind and carried him up to the heavens.

But of all the things Shad expected to see when he met Link, his list of possibilities did not include the expanding sight of the Sky Cannon as he drew closer to their agreed-on meet point.

"Morning, Shad," the scholar heard Link say as Shad, mouth gaping, stared up in dumbfounded awe at the cannon and slowly walked over to where Link stood waiting.

"Is this… This is… If I am not mistaken…" Shad started to speak but, in his astonished state, had yet to find the right phrasing. He adjusted the position of his spectacles and verified that there was nothing flawed about the lenses. Even if all he saw without his ocular aids was its heavily blurred outline, the cannon was indeed there.

Once he found his mental bearings, Shad turned around and asked, "This is the cannon we found in Kakariko Village, isn't it?"

Link nodded yes.

"Brilliant," Shad, facing the cannon once more, gasped in admiration. "I had wondered whatever became of it. I had quite a start returning to the chamber and discovering that it had completely vanished. How ever did you transport it?"

"That's not really important, Shad," Link said.

Shad peered over his shoulder with a rebuttal on his lips that it was _quite_ important that he know how the cannon mysteriously vanished and came to be here, but dropped the reply once he saw Link staring ill at ease and saddened out over the lake's glittering surface. Though Shad was eager to know and wanted to push for answers, he was also sensitive to how uncomfortable the subject made Link and obliged Link's unspoken request not to press the matter further.

"I suppose it is a silly point to ask how it came to be here anyway…" Shad gave an awkward smile and ran his hand through his hair. He turned back around to examine the cannon and continued, "The importance is that is here and it is fixed and that we can inspect it—"

"It works," Link said.

"That it is operational…" Shad said without thinking and froze once his mind caught up with his mouth. Once he realized what he had said, Shad circled around. "It w-works? How ever did you test it?"

"Not significant, Shad," Link said as he walked up and stood beside the perplexed scholar, "The cannon's not what I wanted to show you anyway. It's just our means of getting there."

"M-Means of getting there?" Shad repeated as he blinked in disbelief at Link. Even as Link nodded, affirming his statement, Shad could not believe him.

_He cannot be serious_, Shad thought, mostly to calm his racing heart and ease his trembling. _This is all a joke in the poorest of tastes. …He cannot propose that we'll be _inside_ that mechanical monstrosity, can he? Great Goddesses, this must be a hoax!_

Shad heard Link calling him out of his thoughts. "You all right?" Link asked, his right hand steady on the scholar's shoulder, "Not about to faint, are you?"

"Heavens no, old boy!" Shad said overenthusiastically to offset any visible distress he might have been showing. "I was simply overcome with excitement, that was all. No need to worry. No, no, not at all."

Link quirked an eyebrow, "Are you sure? If you're not up to it—"

"Nonsense! I am my father's son after all, and once my father had a lead he pursued it to the very end, no matter what terrible tests and trials befell before him and so do I!" Shad was the voice and picture of false confidence. He hoped Link would not see through his show of bravado, or even if he did, decide not to take Shad to see his findings. The cannon terrified Shad, but he would endure anything to continue his and his father's research.

Link shrugged his shoulders, "If you say so, Shad," and then smiled, "Ready to go then?"

"Umm…yes," the scholar nodded. "However how?"

"I guess, like this," Link said, much to Shad's confusion.

The scholar was ready to ask Link to clarify himself when he felt Link's arm wrap strongly about his waist. Link pulled Shad close, pressing the front of Shad's body tightly to his side, and held him there. Shad's ears and his cheeks flushed as he looked about bewildered and stammered softly about Link's forwardness and the propriety of it all. Link appeared unbothered by the intimate proximity. He also seemed to not hear Shad's murmurings.

"Hold on tight," Link advised and raised his left arm. It was then Shad saw the metal claws of the peculiar device on Link's arm open and fire toward a gold and red target inside the cannon. The claws connected and away Shad went screaming into the cannon with Link.

In cases of terror and plausible death, propriety did not matter much to Shad anymore. Panicking, Shad wrapped his arms and legs around Link and pressed and clung like mistletoe on an oak tree to the swordsman. _I'm going to perish and this beastly contraption will blast my bits across the lake! Bugger all to it that Link is a madman!_

…_And so am I for agreeing to this! _

The cannon sealed itself, loudly and with screeching hinges, and plunged the chamber into darkness. Shad buried his face in Link's chest. By now, he trembled violently and gasped for breath.

"It's okay. It scares me too," Link said as the cannon rumbled and stirred to life.

Shad looked up. Link was the most courageous person Shad had ever met and for defeating Ganondorf, Link was quite possibly courage personified, but if even the Sky Cannon frightened him… Shad was not reassured, if anything he was more terrified.

_He intended well, _Shad admitted. _However, his logic requires work if he believed that was supposed to comfort me._

The chamber shifted and positioned itself to fire. Shad secured his close hold on Link as he tightened his grip around Shad's waist. Both heard the igniting boom and felt the vast force rocket them through the cannon's barrel and shut their eyes. Out of the cannon and soaring through the sky, Shad felt like a daft fool, but the experience was both exhilarating and horrifying, a never-before-experienced peak high and a crushing low.

At least, when Shad screamed, he wasn't ashamed he did so. Not with Link screaming along beside him.


	3. Chapter 3

Story Title: Our Wind Will Shake the Earth and Stars

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight Princess. Shad would've been featured more and playable.

Author's Notes: Much thanks to Tavi, henslight, Kit, mysticalgems, and Tapix for reviewing.

One of these days, the Goddesses will cut Shad some slack. Not today though. Thanks for reading.

-o-

Chapter Three: Oocca Like Visitors But Do Not Like Thieves

-o-

Shad was falling. To where he did not know and he dared not open his eyes to see so—he was far too afraid of finding himself plummeting towards solid ground and his untimely death. Link and Shad's grips had failed at about the peak of their acceleration and they fell separately. Shad called to Link, but barely able to hear his own voice over the heavy flapping of his clothes and the wind blustering in his ears, he doubted Link heard him. Link was somewhere, near but out of immediate reach. He couldn't save Shad, and the scholar reminded himself of that readily. Shad was on his own…

And splashed into a deep pool of water.

Shad broke the water's surface and came up coughing and gasping for air. The scholar was thankful for two things: One, that the water was warm so that he wouldn't go into shock, and two, that his rucksack was absolutely watertight and protecting his father's journal well. He could not see his surroundings yet for all the water dripping into his shut eyes. Shad removed his spectacles and washed his hand over his face. As he did so, there was a second large splash. The nearby gush sent a spray of water directly into Shad's newly-dried face.

"Shad! You all right?" Link called as soon as he reached the surface.

"Physically, I am unharmed," Shad said, his voice muffled by his hands covering and drying his face. When able, the scholar replaced his spectacles and looked annoyed at Link. "Other ways, however, I am undetermined still. I quite expect nightmares into the coming year, I say, for that little cannon stunt."

"Trust me. If there was any other way of coming here, I would've gone with it," Link said as he wrung out his green cap and slipped it back on.

"Coming here?" Shad quirked a red eyebrow curiously. "Just where in the blazes are we anyway?"

"Turn around," Link said, smiling.

And Shad did so.

His already wide, alert eyes grew more owlish from the moment he circled around and saw the City in the Sky. Mouth a tad gaping, Shad had no words, the best verbal response he could utter were little high squeaks of happiness to himself. He floated in the pool's sun-warmed water and gazed along the hovering structures and committed the City to memory. Clear azure, white cumulus clouds, egg-shaped gray-white stone buildings kept aloft by continuously spinning fans…

Shad could not believe his eyes.

_Dearest Father, I'm here! I have found the City in the Sky…well, with Link's kind assistance, however, nonetheless, our time and research has not been wasted. We were not barmier than two cats tied together at the tail, like the townsfolk and my colleagues said we were. I say, we are terribly owed scores of apologies now, are we not, Father? _

_The City is real and I am here. It is an awkward truth to believe, I must admit. After all, until today, all this was but a fantasy, and you and I dreamers. Oh, but it is beautiful, Father. More so than either of us imagined. If only you were here to view it… _

_Father, I hope you are proud of me. I have the impression that you are, because, right now, I am proud of myself._

A moving brown and flesh-colored blur snapped Shad out of his thoughts and stunned trance. It turned out to be, as Shad came back to reality, Link waving a hand in front of his face. Shad dabbed the small tears moistening his eyes. He had no idea how long he had been engrossed by the magnificent sight of the City in the Sky. It must have been long enough, he was certain.

"Back on Hyrule now?" Link teased.

"Ah, yes…" the scholar stammered, a little rose rising to his cheeks in embarrassment, and stared down into the water, "…I suppose. What?" Shad peered up at Link and appealed for assistance.

And Link shook with quiet laughter.

Which made Shad more embarrassed. Shad was observant—it was something one could say he prided himself on since he had so few other skills—and he was intelligent, but somehow Link, for the thrice time, had managed to reduce him to a gaping, dumbfounded fool tripping over his words, clueless and as vigilant as Chu jelly. Once again Shad lost himself in his awe, and once again Shad felt that he had embarrassed himself.

But he was happy.

"…Thank you, Link," Shad said with a polite reverence in his voice. "For bringing me here. I owe you—"

Link raised a hand and halted Shad from speaking another word. "No, you don't. I owed you. This pays my debt to you for all your help to me back in Kakariko Village."

Shad blinked, "My help? You must be terribly mistaken. I was useless. I did nothing that could, in any measure, be considered helpful."

Link angled his head downward and laughed to himself. Shad didn't understand the why behind Link's laughter but had the impression that he was missing out on some great secret joke of the Goddesses that Link obviously knew the punch line to. Shad hated being out of the loop, especially when that loop specifically concerned himself.

"I say, explain to me what is so funny?" Shad asked, a measure of irritation lined his voice.

Raising his head again and meeting Shad's eyes, Link grinned, "You were more help to me than you realize."

Shad's eyes widened and he blinked. The shy scholar, put ill-at-ease, looked off to the side. Link's reply was not what he expected. It didn't help matters that the swordsman oddly seemed so brightly pleased by his own reply.

Shad cleared his throat discreetly, "…Then you are welcome."

It was the sun in his face making his cheeks so warm, Shad knew it had to be. A soft smile rose across his face. _I am delighted that I was of some assistance, though, I say, I cannot reason how I had been of any use in Kakariko. …Something to do with the Owl Stature's restructuring? That was all I did of any practical value. Or perhaps it was simply something I said?_

Shad sighed. _Link is a cryptic chap. …But it's nice to be useful and of assistance, especially for a fellow with few skills like me._

When Shad peered back, Link was gazing across the bridge to the first stone building. Link was patient and calm, and the sight of the City in the Sky had not awed him like it had Shad. It was like he was used to being here and knew the place well.

_He probably has_, Shad realized. _He knows every room and every secret. While that makes him the perfect guide, it means we are not sharing the journey and that Link is just showing me around._

_ And once again, I am left searching the remains of where others have traversed first._

"If you're ready, we'll go," Link said.

"Then let us go." Shad pushed forward as Link swam in tow.

_Though saddened, I will not squander this opportunity. My father raised a poor researcher, however perhaps I can redeem myself. Perhaps there are still secrets remaining to be unearthed._

Link reached the stone step first and helped Shad pull himself out of the water.

_My life's work has been pursuing one hopeful dream after another. If I am capable of anything, it is that I can hope._

-o-

Shad did not give himself over to impulse. No, he was a young Hylian of caution, of timidity, of temperance, and of careful planning before one took action. Shad was often times the voice of reason in the Group and in his daily life. Diving headlong into unfamiliar territory, as was Ashei's mode of operation, would normally spark his prudence and Ashei's chiding.

But apparently, the City in the Sky was Shad's exception to his nature. It was the only place that could prove that Shad had inherited any of his father's rashness and so it seemed Shad had. The scholar ran across the mossy and grass-patched bridge with little wait, not even for Link. He was, after all, feet away from answering all his questions and inviting more marvelous inquires. It would be odd for Shad to wait in such a case.

Though it would have been wise.

"Shad! Stop!" Link yelled.

_That sounded rather urgent_, Shad realized and paused. Wondering why Link called and stopped him halfway across the bridge, he turned around. Link was running toward him. _Curious, he looks fret_, Shad thought._ I say, though I may not be the adventurer-build such as he, surely Link trusts that I can traverse a bridge without assistance. _

First, the scholar heard an unexpected airy, hissing noise and immediately afterward a low snarl. Shad circled back around to investigate the sounds and met the widening jaws, wet with digestive acid, of an angry Baba Serpent. Shad stared wide-eyed down the carnivorous red-orange plant's purple gullet. Synapses in his brain rapidly fired orders to run but, at this close, Shad's legs were rigid in terror. The Baba Serpent reared on its thorny stalk and readied itself to chomp Shad wherever it so pleased. Shad demanded his legs to move. He was ignored.

The hungry plant struck just as the wind picked up. The violent gust knocked Shad back and out of the Baba Serpent's reach. The great wind tossed his light frame along the ground, like a lost letter rolling in a gentler breeze. Shad only stopped when he crashed into what he thought was part of the stone bridge's walls. That wall turned out to be Link standing firmly against the wind in what appeared to be iron boots.

From the ground and on his back, Shad, dizzy from his tumbling, peered up at Link in a daze and blinked in astonishment to his luck. Link offered his hand and helped Shad steady onto his feet and held onto him until the high wind died.

"Don't run off. This place is dangerous," Link warned.

Shad was well aware of that by now and had learned it the hard way, by most accounts. He had imagined the home of the sky beings a thousand, if not millions, of times before since he was a little boy, and somehow he had decided it was a place as innocuous as the fluffy clouds obscuring it in the heavens. It had never occurred to Shad that it might be laid with hazards and traps and snarling monsters keen on munching foolhardy researchers.

"Yes, well…" Shad said, a bit still shaken by the ordeal, and swept his tousled hair back with a trembling hand. "Lesson learned. I will keep by you from now on, if you do not mind."

Link nodded in agreement and began guiding Shad across the bridge, bracing the scholar whenever the wind periodically lifted.

"It was silly of me to so impetuously race off," Shad said, his eyes angled to the ground. "Must have caught blazes of my father's fire."

"You're excited. It's understandable," Link said, tightening his grip on Shad as another squall blew through. "Rusl told me a little about your dad."

Shad stared into the dying wind, his eyes reverent, and smiled, "My father was a great man. He would have enjoyed meeting you and hearing of your adventures."

"Rusl said the same thing," Link said.

Shad smiled the rest of the way across the bridge, though he did cringe while Link dealt with the first Baba Serpent and then the other. When they finally reached the entrance, Shad wanted to pause and make a sketching of it in his father's journal, but Link assured there were more important things _behind_ the door than the door itself. Reluctantly, the scholar put away his ink and quill and placed the image to memory. Link approached the door, and without push, the entrance opened on its own.

-o-

Shad pretty much assumed with every new room, with every new peek further into the City in the Sky that he would be taking mental notes and images all along the way, at least until he had time to jot everything down in his father's journal. He thanked Nayru for giving him an impeccable memory and keen observation and went on with surveying the room.

_There is the presence of advance technology_, Shad took note, _but it all seems to be in a state of disrepair. Peculiar._

Shad wondered then doubted there were supposed to be ivy growing on some of the non-broken pillars or stone missing from the walls, grimed with dirt or what more likely was brown water stains from leaky sources, or that a large portion of the floor was supposed to be gone and opened out to the sky. The scholar shuddered at the sight of sky cannons held in nearby segregated chambers and readily moved his attention away from them, for now.

As he gazed slowly about the room, Shad was torn between mesmerism and disillusionment. Everything enthralled him, after all it was a part of the City in the Sky, but at the same time, nothing matched to what Shad had envisioned.

_Frivolous folly! _Shad scoffed at himself._ Why I am permitting my boyhood fantasies to prejudice my exploration of the real City in the Sky, I will never know. Father would laugh at my puerile behavior and he would be rightly so!_

Shad banished all his previous daydreams of the City in the Sky and absorbed the wonders of the true City.

"This is all quite fascinating, Link," Shad said as he stepped about the room, though careful to avoid the drop space, and continued memorizing his surroundings. "It begs several questions of the Oocca culture. Specifically on their architecture process."

"When I was here, I never saw them build anything," Link said, standing by the closed entrance. "Or fix anything for that matter."

Shad nodded in thanks to Link for his information and then tried conjecturing how the sky beings built the City in the Sky. And then Shad's mind focused on a different part of Link's words.

Shad circled around, "Wait… The Oocca are _still around_? They're _alive?_"

Link stifled a laugh, "Of course, they are. They've been watching us since we first came inside."

Shad madly searched about the room. He saw no one but Link.

"Not sure why they're hiding…" Link shrugged his shoulders. "Guess they might be afraid of you."

At that, Shad ran up to Link and grabbed him by the tunic. "Please, tell them I mean no harm!" he pled frantically. "Tell them that I would be honored and humbled to meet them. Tell them I have much to ask and a willingness to learn. Link, _please!_"

"Can't do that, Shad," Link said, grinning and failing to hide his amusement, if he even tried to.

"_Why?_"

"I don't speak their language."

Shad blinked. "…Oh." He let Link go, stepped away, and angled his face down and to the side to obscure his embarrassed flush. "Pardon my actions, if you will. I was…over-stimulated by your news. I had viewed the state of the room and assumed that the Oocca were no longer around."

"Nope. They're around," Link plainly said.

Shad nodded as he paced about the room and thought on everything Link had said. "We're, or more correctly I, are in quite a quandary if the Oocca are frightened of me. I do not take pleasure in the prospect of being in the home of the sky beings and never seeing one for myself."

"Ooccoo speaks Hylian," Link said, as if it was a just-remembered afterthought. "She'd probably be happy to help us."

Shad looked at Link with a pinched expression on his face. As well-meaning and helpful as Link intended to be, his little offerings of valuable, crucial information bit-by-bit pressed on Shad's nerves. _Annoyed as I am, I cannot be truly irritated. After all, Link is not the sort to divulge and prattle on such as I. _

Shad relaxed and readopted his usual friendly, open disposition and smiled. "Very well, I say. Shall we meet your friend Ooccoo?"

"You shall," said a high, vaguely-female voice. The voice was strange and Shad could not place or compare it anything known, which was rather exciting getting to hear something he was for certain he had never heard before or ever would.

The awe and wonder of discovery was not yet over for Shad. Stepping out from behind Link's boots was the most peculiar-looking creature. Its body was like a cucco with deep yellow feathers, its neck was thin and pale, and its head was fairly ovoid in shape and bore a vaguely humanoid face.

"Shad, this is Ooccoo," Link said, smiling. "She's an Oocca."

"A pleasure and honor, Madam Ooccoo," Shad said, his voice ringing with excitement, and bowed deeply from waist. "And might I add how magnificent it is to meet you. Awe-inspiring for me, in reality. I say, truly, I do not possess the words to express how wonderful it is to be here and to be meeting you. Thank you so very much."

Ooccoo covered her laughter, like a restrained bawking sound, with her wing, "Gracious! Your admiration is plenty, young man. My… We've never had so many guests."

"Then I hope I am not intruding, Madam," Shad said, readying a lengthy apology if needed.

"Young man, you don't have to worry," Ooccoo said, tittering. "Oocca enjoy receiving visitors, though it's been decades since we've had any."

"I imagine you would not possess the opportunity," Shad said. "Being so high up and hidden in the clouds and with so few down below believing in your existence. Most consider your people a legend, a story."

"Yes," Ooccoo gave a brief nod, "So we've been told."

Shad glanced quickly over to Link. _Well done, old boy. So he has spoken to them of our world. I say, it may prove easier for me and less work and time wasted explaining if the Oocca already know some details about Hyrule._

"Madam Ooccoo," Shad said respectfully and took a step toward her, "If I may explain, I am here not by chance but for a reason, as you might have already conjectured."

Ooccoo nodded and, to what Shad could tell what with her constant blank expression, was waiting for him to continue. It was rather off-putting, her empty, unemotional face and eyes. Shad wondered if all the Oocca shared this appearance or if she was the only one.

Shad gathered the bit of lost courage disturbed by Ooccoo and continued on with his speech. "I am a scholar and my life and research has been devoted to discovering and learning all I can about the Oocca. I ask of you, if you will grant me, to permit me to observe and study your culture."

Ooccoo clucked and the short, deep sounds echoed throughout the room. She then shot Shad an impassive sidelong stare, "…You're a scholar."

It suddenly became apparent to Shad that the room was quite occupied and that there were several sets of tiny, oval-shaped red eyes watching him all across the room. Taken aback by this newfound knowledge and Ooccoo's new behavior, Shad hesitantly nodded. He was uncertain, what with Ooccoo's emotionless stare and the even coolness of her tone, whether it was the right answer or not.

Ooccoo then stared at Link, "But you're a friend of the adventurer."

Shad nodded again, more readily this time, and Link also nodded in confirmation for Ooccoo.

Ooccoo clucked again, this time a longer string. The other Oocca clucked too, clipped and quietly, as they spoke among themselves. Shad swallowed his air and dared not to move. Though he was nervous, and understandably so not knowing what any of the Oocca were saying, one thing reassured Shad and told him everything was okay—Link was calm.

Truthfully, Link seemed bored and restlessly tapped the tip of his boots against the floor. The Oocca, clearly, did not alarm him. If anything was wrong, Link would have sensed it. Link would have informed Shad and told him to run or get behind him or whatever was needed. Since he was silent, nothing was wrong.

The Oocca all quieted at once. Ooccoo nodded and met Shad's eyes. "It's been decided. We'll allow you to stay and study us, scholar."

Shad's smile beamed. "Thank you! Thank you so very much, Madam Ooccoo!" Shad raised and looked up to all the eyes of the hidden Oocca. "And thank you all as well!"

Wasting no time, Shad placed his rucksack on the floor and opened it. "If I may," Shad spoke excitedly, his body all but vibrating in elation, as he rummaged through his supplies, "I would like for you, Madam Ooccoo, to model for a sketching. I'll do a quick job of it, I can assure you that. Allow me to first get this out of the way—" Shad removed the Ancient Sky Book from the sack and gingerly placed it underneath his left arm.

Shad did finish his sentence but whatever he had said had been crushed by the Oocca's deafening din of shrill, strident screeching. Shad peered wildly about, listening to the frenzied, angry sounds surrounding him, and paled and trembled in the midst of it. He did not need to know what they were saying to know they were enraged.

"Link, please inform me that you are acquainted with what is happening and that you possess a proper solution."

"I don't, Shad," Link said, looking worriedly about the room, and made his way with care to put himself in front of Shad. "They've never done this before."

Hearing that, Shad panicked. "M-Madam Ooccoo, k-kindly provide a translation for us, please, if you will."

The Oocca squawked and hopped from their hidden perches. The closest ones fell on Shad. The scholar screamed and ran, raising his arms to protect his face from the Oocca's scratching talons and, in doing so, dropped the Ancient Sky Book.

More and more Oocca glided over and attacked him. Oocca on the ground leapt up and clawed his legs and torso. Several perched on his shoulder and back and bit Shad's ears, face, neck, wherever they could reach. Shad ran, his eyes clamped shut, his strangled cries unintelligible in the riot of angry Oocca squawks. Shad dashed erratically about the room and swatted blindly at the Oocca and fought to keep their sharp talons away from his soft eyes.

In the rushing flurry of feathers, squawks, tears, talons, and screams, the Oocca attacked and chased Shad. Link hurried behind them, striking away and clearing Oocca from Shad as quickly as he could. In what felt like a hellish eternity to Shad, Link eventually made progress. Progress enough that Ooccoo finally gave them an explanation as to why the Oocca's sudden aggression on Shad.

"They're saying you're a thief. That you've come back to steal from us again. 'We will not let you take from us again, thief.' That's what my brethren are saying."

Hands clasping the swordsman's shoulders, Shad hid behind Link and cowered from the angry Oocca. Though the scholar was taller than Link, with the way Shad crouched, Link was now taller than him and Shad only appeared to reach Link's shoulders.

"T-That is im-impossible! I have never been here b-before," Shad said, quite shaken by the Oocca's fury. "H-How could I have s-stolen from you?"

The Oocca clucked. Ooccoo translated as the other Oocca began their second assault. "That book has been missing from our library for thirty years. It's an artifact only meant for the eyes of the messenger. It being in your possession now means you're a thief!"

"Ooccoo, tell them to stop!" Link shouted through the squawks, brandishing his arm and swiping the Oocca away from Shad, screaming apologies and holding tightly to Link's waist. "Shad's innocent! I gave him the book. I didn't know not to. It's my fault!"

After a quick bit of chirping from Ooccoo, the Oocca all stopped attacking and stood surrounding Link and Shad and glared—as best as a creature with oval eyes, emotionless stares, and a lack of eyebrows could glare, though if Shad had to note their expressions they were without a doubt glaring. At him. And not at Link.

Shad never was very skilled at making new friends.

A larger, dusty-yellow Oocca stepped up and stood beside Ooccoo. It began chirping and from its deeper, coarser chirps, it was evidently an older Oocca and male. As he spoke, Ooccoo provided an immediate translation, "We're aware it is the boy's first look of our home, but another of his kind have appeared."

Link blinked, "Well, yes, I've been." The swordsman looked down at the floor and paused for a second to think. "If I did anything—"

"Not you, messenger," the male Oocca said via Ooccoo's translation. "Another. A _scholar_."

"A scholar?" Shad's eyebrows shot up with surprise. Marked interest overriding his fear, he rose to his full height and stepped out from behind Link. "There have been other scholars here?"

"Only one." With a brief contemplative pause, the male Oocca began a long series of chirps, tweets, and clucks. Ooccoo waited until he had finished to translate.

"Thirty years ago, a stranger, a _scholar_, unexpectedly appeared in our pond. He explained to us, just as you have, boy, that he was a scholar and was fascinated by our culture and wished to know more. We allowed him to stay. We showed him our world and answered his many questions. In turn, he taught many of us Hylian and entertained us with the stories of the world below us. The land he called Hyrule.

"We learned from him. He learned from us. It was a fair harmony. We each held one another in high esteem. We believed out bonds of friendship were strong and true.

"…It was not to last," the male Oocca shut his eyes and frowned softly. He then bowed his head. The other Oocca followed suit in a sequential wave.

"We put trust and loyalty in a kind stranger. Just as he had for us, we opened ourselves—our benevolence, our sympathy, our world to him. Blood may have differentiated our people but his heart, we had believed, was like ours. We were wrong. The scholar, our faithful friend and brother, stole from us. An artifact of vast importance to us. He stole from us and disappeared."

Shad and Link listened to the male Oocca's story intently. Shad, reeling from the fact that another scholar had reached the City in the Sky before him and had then proceeded to plunder from the beings Shad so revered since boyhood, stood in a stunned trance and blinked. The story too had been a surprise for Link but the swordsman recovered quicker from the news. For him, other parts of the story were more important to Link than what shocked Shad. Link walked over and picked up the Ancient Sky Book from the floor.

"If the book's been missing for thirty years," Link said, standing beside Shad again and holding up the Sky Book in one hand. "I think the real thief would be still alive. I'll bring him back to answer for his crimes, if you want. What did he look like?"

The male Oocca clucked and Ooccoo translated. "Thank you, messenger," the male Oocca bowed in appreciation. "The scholar was Hylian and bore a strong resemblance to your traveling companion. Your friend even carries the scholar's scent on his person."

"B-But that would mean… That sounds like… _My father?_" Shad, stressed and aching, closed his eyes and ran his hand through his hair in disbelief. "…This cannot be. My father never discovered the City in the Sky. It was his dream to. It was not him."

The male Oocca squawked harshly. "We do not lie."

Distress lined Shad's brow and his jaw tightened. Holding his chin, Shad paced about in a short, narrow line and considered much. After all, he had much to consider.

"Does this sound like something your dad would do?" Link asked.

Shad halted and faced Link. He waited before he spoke, crossing his arms over his chest, his hands cupping his elbows. A soft frown joined the many thin lines marking Shad's worry.

"I am ashamed to admit that this is something he would and has done in the past." Shad exhaled a long, sad, disappointed sigh. "I have always upheld my father as great man but he was not without flaw. It saddens me that he could not restrain his vices in a sacred place that deserved only his esteem and admiration."

The scholar bowed his head and continued to frown. And then a new thought came to Shad and he lifted his head and met the Oocca with a new determination and resolve in his eyes.

"Madam Ooccoo, if you would, please translate for me. I have something I wish to say." Shad extended his hand and received the Ancient Sky book from Link.

"My name is Shad. I am the son of the scholar who befriended you and subsequently broke your trust and said friendship. My father and I share a similar appearance, the same interests and passions, a love of knowledge and a spirit for adventure, and appreciation for a finely brewed cup of tea.

"But what we do not share are our morals and values. I wish first to give my utmost apologies for my father's actions. It was wrong of him and he should have known better to not steal, especially from those who considered him a dear friend. My father knew much and many things but treating others well was not always at his forefront. No, my father, rest his soul, faltered in tact.

"That said I would like to return what my father has stolen," Shad lowered onto his knees and bowed his head. He stretched his arms forward and offered the Ancient Sky Book to the Oocca. "After all, something so precious and valuable deserves to remain where it rightfully belongs and with the ones it rightfully belongs to. It may not clear my father's betrayal but I hope it serves as some form of retribution for his actions. I am sorry."

When Ooccoo's chirps ended, the Oocca looked and spoke amongst themselves. It was impossible to tell what they were saying or how they felt about Shad's apology. Shad, remaining bowed and presenting the Sky Book, waited. Finally, the older male Oocca bawked and six Oocca hopped out of the flock and grabbed the Sky Book in their talons. A spasm of pain ran through Shad as he watched the Oocca's talons pierce the Ancient Sky Book's leather and fly off with it. To where, he could only guess.

As he rose to standing, Shad now understood how it pained his father so to return the royal family's artifacts and treasures. He sorely missed the Sky Book already, but Shad knew it was not his to keep and that it rightly belonged with the Oocca. Shad would just have to live with his transcribed copy safe in his study.

Shad must have been staring at the departing Sky Book quite intently because he was startled by Link's touch on his shoulder. Shad looked and saw Link smile and gaze reassuringly at him, confirming Shad's own belief that he had done the right thing.

"I'd wager the Oocca will let us explore the rest of the City in the Sky after this," Link said, his hand still resting on the scholar's shoulder.

Shad wanted to feel excited and started to smile but reflecting on what he had learned, he crushed that hope rather swiftly. "I say, _you_, they would. But I…" Shad shook his head. "I doubt scholars are welcome."

"No harm in asking," Link said. "Ooccoo?"

Ooccoo turned, "Yes, adventurer?"

"Will the Oocca still let Shad stay and study you? I know his dad hurt you but Shad means what he says and is sorry about what happened and he _really_ does just want to learn about you. _Please_, Ooccoo."

"I'm only one Oocca. The others must also allow the scholar passage. …But I'll see."

Ooccoo grabbed the attention of her fellow Oocca and they listened quietly to her chirps and then deliberated. Link and Shad waited and hoped. Shad could barely breathe as he waited for the Oocca's reply. He wished it did not take long. He did not wish to pass out in anticipation.

Finally, the older male Oocca chirped and Ooccoo turned to Link and Shad and said, "The scholar may stay and study us."

Shad's mouth fell open and the scholar beamed and grabbed Link's arm and bounced in place. Link smiled and stifled his laughter and amusement at Shad's overwhelming joy.

"I have never in all my life felt this much happiness," Shad readily bowed to the Oocca and spoke hurriedly. "I cannot thank you enough for your kindness and generosity. All of you, I thank you. Thank—"

"There's a stipulation," Ooccoo said harshly to match the male Oocca's tone and effectively silenced Shad's gushing gratitude. "We're letting you stay because the adventurer spoke for you. For you to stay, he must vouch and be responsible for you. Anything you do, scholar, reflects on him so be warned. We will also be watching you at all times. Understood, scholar?"

"Yes," Shad nodded without delay. Link followed suit and agreed to be responsible for Shad.

"Very well then," translated Ooccoo. "Follow us."


	4. Chapter 4

Story Title: Our Wind Will Shake the Earth and Stars

Disclaimer: I do not own The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.

Author's Notes: Much appreciation goes to henslight, mysticalgems, Tapix, Tavi, and Kit for reviewing.

May just be my own opinion but this chapter is mostly transition, lots of description, with some plot advancement. And Ooccoo Jr. Next chapter promises to be more action-orientated. Thanks for reading.

-o-

Chapter Four: A Scholar and His Library Are Soon Reunited

-o-

Put simply, the City in the Sky was _magnificent_.

Really, Shad wanted to use a stronger word, but right now his mind was rather preoccupied with memorizing and organizing new knowledge and sights than to peruse his lexicon for a word that might not even exist.

But there was just so much. So much to say, so much to ask and still so much to see…. Nothing could be left out or forgotten. Shad had to remember everything. He was determined to, so that when he found the time, he could transcribe every bit into his father's journal. Shad had no idea if his impeccable memory would hold the surge of information, but he would find out.

Shad stepped and looked about a large room that Shad surmised from studying Link's map of the City (yet another valuable piece of information Link had overlooked to offer until now) was a sort of great hall and the central heart of the City. The room indeed was the largest one Shad had seen yet and was open and airy. Upon first sight, Shad noted the large moving fan directly across the room.

Like the first room, this room also appeared worn and dingy. The walls were a faded white-gray and were discolored with brown water stains. Ivy coated the four pillars stationed in a square in the middle of the room. Shad looked up and saw in the ceiling another large fan, this one immobile, and to his fright, also saw the shapes of creatures moving about that did not appear to be Oocca…

The scholar swallowed his concerns and moved on to memorizing the smaller elements of the room. Shad was very good at noticing things others did not, a skill he quite prided himself on and his father often praised him for. It was, in his experience, often the little things about a society that made big connections to the culture of its people. Shad liked finding these little facets—they were as intriguing to him as any large statue or a new room.

It did not take long before Shad was absorbed in the various faded ornate patterns about the room, such as red and blue lines on the stairs or the pillars that were very similar to the lines around the Oocca's heads or the purple ovals decorating the ovoid-shaped window ledges that were reminiscent of the Oocca's eyes.

Thankfully, the Oocca keeping watch on him and Link were patient with him, though Shad did notice that Link was a bit restless just standing around. Shad murmured a soft apology to him and noted to attempt to not get too lost in his wonder. Realistically, Shad knew he would but he was assured that Link would pull him away when he did fall victim to his propensity to wander off point. As it was, Link was engaged in listening to Ooccoo as she animatedly spoke to him about his previous visit to the City in the Sky and how interesting that occasion had been as well.

Shad walked about lost in awe and rapture. He decided to go ahead and made notes and sketches in his father's journal, figuring it was best he had both a tangible and intangible copy at hand. That and there really was _just so much_ that it was wiser if Shad began marking down everything now just in case his memory, for some unfathomable reason, did fail him.

Along with drawing out his father's rashness in him, the City in the Sky also had a peculiar effect on Shad's loquacious tendencies. Never once had Shad ever been this quiet in his short life and in truth a thousand and one questions bubbled inside him but could not escape for his awe stealing away his breath. It was an unusual feeling, Shad noted, having simultaneously everything in the world to say and a mind as clear as air.

When Shad finally had every bit of interest in this room wrote or drawn down, Shad contemplated his next option to take on his route throughout the City. What Shad deemed as the western entrance—since according to Link's map, the City in the Sky's basic shape was that of a cross and it helped Shad remember rooms better if he thought of the City's design utilizing the shape—was inaccessible to Shad without Link's assistance, what with the missing pathway. And up the platform of steps would lead to the northern entrance, but Link assured Shad would need his aid crossing that passageway as well.

And so that left the scholar with no other choice but to take the eastern entrance.

"When you cross these," Link said, pointing at the blue blocks making up the path to door, "Run. Don't stop. Go as fast as you can."

"Very well then…" Shad was confused but he took Link's advice for it. _After all,_ Shad thought, _in this set of circumstances, he is more knowledgeable than I. Best to do what the old boy says._

Shad took his first step onto a blue block and as it sank and ground against the others, Link's advice swiftly made perfect sense. _Why ever would the Oocca have necessity for footpaths like these?_ Shad wondered as he picked up speed and followed Link into the next room.

-o-

With Link's assistance crossing the windy bridge, Shad arrived in the next building. A shrill pig's squeal immediately greeted and frightened Shad but Link quickly stepped in front of him and dispatched the small, silver-helmed creature charging toward them. According to Link, the foul little beast was a helmasaur.

Once Link took care of a second helmasaur that came barreling from the right, things were at last clear for Shad to begin looking about. The main feature of this room was the continuously whirling fans blowing blasts of air into the room and into a deep drop space. Peering over the perforated metal guardrail, Shad reminded himself to not get too close to the fans' high-velocity winds.

A pair of Oocca sat perched atop the guardrail and watched Shad with impassive stares without end. _One detail I can speak truthfully of the Oocca is this—they keep their assertions._

Shad tried to not let the Ooccas' constant and off-putting stares get to him and focused on other parts of this new room and deliberated on what to sketch first. He had made a few more notes in his father's journal, but so far his attention narrowed on one specific question. So far, the question and his weak, illogical explanations bothered and annoyed Shad as much as a wrinkle bending his bowtie or that obstinate curl of hair of his that refused to lay anywhere else but on his temple.

To put an end to his annoyance, he decided to inquire for the answer.

"Madam Ooccoo," Shad searched and to no luck found her anywhere. "Madam Ooccoo?"

Shad at first thought she had remained in the previous room but at last found her casually perched on top of Link's head, much to the swordsman's evident unawareness as he turned his head and looked about trying to help Shad find her. The sight made Shad smile and stifle a laugh.

Apparently deciding to make herself found, Ooccoo leapt up and flapped over to join her brethren on the guardrail. "Yes, scholar?"

Shad gave a little bow, as he was certain would become habit before he spoke to Ooccoo, "If I may ask, how ever did the Oocca construct the City in the Sky?"

She was silent for a few breaths. "Gracious… I don't know."

And again with a short bow, "Please, if I may request, can you ask them?" Shad gave a quick glance and nod over to the watching pair of Oocca.

Ooccoo turned to the pair and chirped. Both Oocca too paused before they gave a reply. "They don't know either."

Shad's shoulders drooped and he made a quiet, frustrated sigh. "Then perhaps your leader? Might he know?"

"We have no leader," Ooccoo explained. "And I doubt anyone would. There are many things we no longer know, things we've forgotten."

Both Link and Shad looked bewildered at Ooccoo and blinked. "Then do you have any records? Documents? Scrolls?"

"There is a library…" Ooccoo said.

Shad's hopes lifted.

"…But we don't remember where it is."

Shad's hopes dropped like a Goron in deep water.

Shad felt the stress furrow his brow and weigh heavily against his shoulders. He frowned and pinched the bridge of his nose as he thought and thought. He was, after all, so close to finding out more about the Oocca, his only obstacle being the sky beings' ignorance of themselves.

"Then where did they take the Ancient Sky Book? Where else would you put a book but in its library? I say, _they_ must know." To his horror, for some reason, Shad imagined the Oocca who took the Sky Book simply dropped it haphazardly in a remote room, breaking its spine, as those beastly, squealing helmasaurs rampaged over and across its valuable and informative pages.

Before he was ill, Shad reminded himself that the Oocca valued the Sky Book very much (equally as much as he) and that it would be _quite_ unlikely they would do something so unspeakable to the irreplaceable tome.

"Oh, that. Our library doesn't have books. We hold information in…well, I don't remember," Ooccoo said. "But the Sky Book is in the Messenger's Library and there are other books belonging to the messenger there as well."

"Perhaps we should start there," Shad suggested, quite hopefully and with a hidden plea due to the truth that he _really_ wanted to peruse the Messenger's Library but feared he would not be permitted on account of him not being the messenger and Shad already knew well what the consequences were for someone other than the messenger to touch a book only for the messenger. He rather not have the experience repeated.

"You've got a point, scholar," Ooccoo said. "Perhaps you should. The Messenger's Library is a bit a ways but my son can get you there in an instant."

Shad quite expected another Oocca or at least a smaller chick-like creature to appear but no, that was not quite the case. What came at Ooccoo's call was a head, an infant's head, a _flying_ infant's head. Shad blinked and stared dumbfounded at the little flying head as it spoke briefly to his mother and then flew very close to Shad's face.

"I say, my, you're a peculiar little thing, aren't you?" Shad said, smiling and half-giddy with excitement as he admired the younger Oocca's tiny wings on each side of its head flapping rapidly away like a hummingbird. _Fascinating! The Ooccas' physiological structure is simply a wonder. How I _cannot _wait to examine the physical maturation of the Oocca from child to adult!_

"You say I'm odd," the young male Oocca, apparently named Ooccoo Jr., said, "but you're wearing mirrors on your face."

Shad's eyes widened as he stared back at Ooccoo Jr. in mild stunned surprise. Link snorted and turned his head away quickly to hide the rest of his amusement.

"Actually, they're not mirrors at all," Shad explained, "They're spectacles and they allow me to see…" Shad's voice trailed off as Ooccoo Jr., clearly not interested in listening, flew away and darted wildly about.

"Shall I take him now, mama?" Ooccoo Jr. asked.

Ooccoo nodded. Shad watched as the young Oocca grew enveloped in a blinding white light. Ooccoo Jr. flew just above Shad's head and then spiraled down around him. Shad felt the presence of magic surround him and willed him to follow it. Shad had no other option.

Shad's body spun in a dizzying blur and before he could utter a single shout, he was gone.

-o-

The spinning slowed and at last the magic released him. Shad staggered blindly about his new surroundings in a wobbly daze before crashing into and grabbing hold of what felt familiarly like a table. There, Shad held on with wobbly arms and stood on wobbly legs and steadied himself.

The closest comparison and best description Shad could make of what the ride of magic felt like was like how honey drips from a spoon, how it first runs down in a thick glob and then gradually thins at the top to a wispy strand. Shad's body had felt very similar to that, like his whole body had been stretched, pulled, and wrenched into a single delicate string that spiraled and stretched some more along the way before pooling itself back into his usual shape. Shad tried not to think much of the effect and stress the bizarre teleportation had had on his internal organs. For now, he just hoped everything had made it and had been put back in its proper place.

Shad heard an odd, high-pitched tittering and, with his bearings mostly restored, looked up to find Ooccoo Jr.

"You're _fun_," the young male Oocca said, laughing as he flew around a bit more before he vanished in a flash of white light.

"Might I dare say there's something barmy about that boy," Shad murmured softly to himself and then closed his eyes, angled his head downwards, and smiled, "Now, I say, where have I heard that before? …Suppose it requires one to recognize another."

In comparison to the previous rooms, the Messenger's Library was small, confining, and very boxy, though Shad supposed the Oocca did not allot much time in the design, seeing how the room was neither for them nor their use.

The Library's sense of spaciousness and airiness was solely due to a complete lack of furnishings, save a wooden table and a circular-backed chair. The floors were made of red blocks and the walls were the same faded white-gray chaos as before, except for a dusty yellow frieze patterned with repeating dull green wings bordering at the top. There were windows, large and perfectly round, aligned along one wall. Shad had to admit the sunlight pouring in brightened the drab room and the view of the open sky and rolling misty clouds was a welcome and cheering sight.

An Oocca watched Shad from the farthest window. Coming to accept the sky beings would not relent in surveying his every move, Shad at least preferred to stay polite and said hello and waved to his guard. The Oocca stared blankly back and did not react at all. Feeling awfully foolish, Shad circled around at once.

The presence and swell of magic drew Shad's attention. The scholar found his head and stare angled toward the proper spot even before the magic manifested itself. The magic's feel was familiar and Shad should have known, having been dragged by it so not long ago.

_So it seems Ooccoo Jr. is transporting Link along to accompany me_, Shad thought and massaged his aching hands. His minor gift was picking up the magic in the air and his hands were very much remembering the stretching and pulling done on his body during his turn.

Link appeared in the room wildly spinning just as Shad had been, but when the magic released him, he was not left dizzy and did not stagger at all as he walked toward Shad.

"Everything all right?" Link asked.

"Why, yes, it is," Shad replied and offered a quick smile, a tinge of pink coloring his cheeks as he compared their experiences and was embarrassed by his weakness.

"Gracious! Here we are," Ooccoo said as she hopped onto the table, "The Messenger's Library."

"Pardon me, Madam Ooccoo," Shad said, finding himself once again bowing to her before he spoke, "but if this is indeed the Library, should there…should there not be books?"

Shad had already looked around once and he had seen nothing in the Messenger's Library that by any definition resembled a book, a scroll, or barely even a scrap of parchment with a bit of scribbling on it. Link was searching about as well, and by the look on his face was as confused by the Library-that-contained-no-books as Shad was.

"You'd think we'd keep books out where anyone could find and take them, scholar? This is a _library_," Ooccoo replied, her voice rather aghast by the whole idea.

Ooccoo made a few short, odd chirps and Shad and Link watched as the stones in the wall across from them shifted and turned around and reordered themselves—the grating noise the process made was horrendous—until the large gap in the wall clearly revealed itself to be a bookcase.

Shad blinked and knew his open mouth was quite unbecoming but did not care. He blinked again. The scholar wondered if the Oocca had ever seen a proper library, and if so, were simply using the term ironically. Most likely they had not, for if they had, would not be calling this room the Messenger's Library. Shad suddenly had the desire to show the Oocca his research/personal library to teach the sky beings the proper meaning and usage of the word. Really, Shad slept with more books surrounding him in bed than the Oocca had in their library.

Shad walked up and stood in front of the bookcase and gathered up the entirely of the Messenger's Library in his arms—all three books, one being the Ancient Sky Book.

Shad turned and faced Link, "I suppose this is a start…" _I say, it's not much of anything, but it is a lead and Father always said to never refuse a lead however insignificant. With any good fortune, I may not require any other assistance than these books and the time it takes to study them. _

_ I do wish there was something more, just another option. Just in case this lead bears me nowhere. I do not wish to finally be in the City of the Sky and have no method of gathering research._

"Hopefully, they'll be helpful," Link said. "If not, we'll search other rooms and maybe something'll give you a clue."

Shad was still uncertain as he moved over to the table and laid the stack of books there. "Yes, well," he said, his voice soft and like a sigh, as he rested his hands flat on the top book's worn, untitled cover, "Let us pray there are answers to be discovered and the means of discovery somewhere out there."

"If anyone could get answers, it would be you, Shad," Link said, flashing the scholar an encouraging smile. "You're good at that."

"Yes…well…thank you," Shad peered quickly over at Link and then back down and smiled.

_Not a lie in the old boy. Means what he speaks and speaks what he means. Good quality to have in a hero_, Shad thought as he flipped through one of the books he hadn't yet read. _…Sky Writing, as I should have expected. I suppose they are all written in it. Easy enough for me to read, but it will be time-consuming to translate it so that I understand what it says._

"Link, do not take what I say as discourteous, but I would suggest, if you want to that is…" Shad said, struggling a bit with his phrasing, as everything so far was coming across ill-mannered and Shad _hated_ the thought of being at all rude to Link, "…After all, you are free to go about as you please, but the fact of the matter is, given what I know of you and granted I may be wrong—"

"Shad, just tell me."

"The truth is that I think you will more than likely find my researching dreadful and I do not see you being content with remaining idle and watching me read for hours on end. If you want to, however, you are more than welcome to stay. I do not mind the company at all. But I believe it would be more sensible if you occupied yourself exploring or what have you while I stayed here."

"Ah, I see. Does sound boring," Link admitted. "But you're okay with me leaving?"

"I say, absolutely," Shad nodded, doubly affirming. "One could say I am quite accustomed to such conditions."

"Well, I'll leave you to your work then," Link said, as Ooccoo Jr. fluttered above his head. "If I find anything, I'll be sure to come get you."

"As I would expect," Shad said and nodded again, this time in goodbye. "Take care, Link."

Link flashed a smile and raised a hand in farewell, and seconds after, he spun and vanished in Ooccoo Jr.'s spiraling white light.

Deciding there was no better time to begin translating than now, Shad took a seat in the wide, circular-backed chair and found it to be less comfy than it appeared. It was as if, what with the drab, poorly-lit room and the uncomfortable chair, that the Oocca were trying their hardest to discourage anyone from spending too much time in the Messenger's Library, as if they didn't want anyone to read their books.

_Well, I have done research in far worse conditions. No sense in permitting poor seating and lighting delay my quest for answers, not when flying snow and mud, Ashei and Rusl's boisterous practice spars, and Auru's dreadfully brewed tea could not dissuade me._

Setting the Ancient Sky Book off to the side, Shad went ahead and opened the one of two books he had not yet read to the first page. The idea to ask Ooccoo for her assistance in translating the Sky Writing into Hylian flitted quickly through Shad's mind but died rather immediately once the scholar realized she was gone, or if not that, then hiding and not listening to his calls. Shad considered it a possible timesaving loss but not a true hindrance. After all, Shad was in his element and he was more than proficient in the subject and competent to complete such a task.

-o-

Link wandered from room to room looking for curious sorts and out of the ordinary bits that Shad would find interesting but so far was not having much luck. Nothing particularly caught his eye. He merely caught what he always caught, specifically the layout of the room and the utmost necessities needed to get to the next—things like the number of monsters he would have to take out, or the stair puzzle he would have to decipher, or the frozen eye across the room that needed unthawed and sniped. Things like that.

Put simply, when Link and Shad entered a room, they looked for different things. Link looked the necessary and Shad…well, as far as Link knew he wasn't quite sure what Shad looked for but he knew it wasn't the bare basics like him. Shad was more thorough. Anything and everything could be of importance and interest to him. And trying to discern from room to room what Shad would find significant, quite frankly, gave Link a headache. But he knew there had to be something and it was up to him to find it.

He asked Ooccoo and her son to help him discover or tell him about interesting things that Shad might find fascinating but so far they found nothing and could not remember much of anything. Link now thought he understood how Shad must feel, frustrated at finally being in the City in the Sky but having no way of answering his many questions.

"Why can't you remember?" Link asked Ooccoo as they made their way to the next great room.

"Well, it's that…" Ooccoo stared down and frowned, "…we can't remember why we can't remember."

Link paused in his step and turned to her.

"Thing is…" Ooccoo said as she hopped up to sit in an ovoid-shaped window, "We do remember that we used to remember but now for some reason everything we know is gone or fades. Like I know I knew the spell to revive the Dominion Rod, but one day I forgot the beginning and then gradually it all slipped away."

"And we weren't like this a long time ago, were we, mama?" Ooccoo Jr. said, perching beside his mother.

"Yes, my darling boy, you're right. We looked much different, though how we can't recall."

"Something must have happened…" Link said. "Something that took away your true forms and your memories."

Ooccoo nodded. "Yes, adventurer, I suppose you're right. We can't remember what but we do know we were never originally like this."

Link stood in deep thought with his head bowed. A dark swell in the air surrounded him. Something like a fluttering ache spread through his bones and urged him to follow. He suddenly became restless. He wanted to get moving.

"I will help you," Link said confidently, clenching a hand at his side into a strong fist, "And Shad will be happy to, as well. We will search every stone for clues. We'll find a way to get your memories and your forms back. It would be no trouble."

Ooccoo smiled and gave a quick bow, "Thank you, adventurer. We would be forever grateful."

Link pressed his fist against his heart and returned her smile, "It's a promise."

"Mama… I think I remember something," Ooccoo Jr. said but without much certainty.

"Oh, how wonderful! My, what a good boy, he is," Ooccoo praised as her son fluttered from their perch and flew over and hovered in front of the young Oocca marking on the wall.

Ooccoo Jr. hung in the air and stared intently at the picture for the longest time. He spoke aloud to himself and struggled to recall what he had just remembered, or at least what he thought he had remembered. He was about to give up, and Link was ready to let go of his hope, when the idea fell back into Ooccoo Jr.'s head. Ooccoo Jr. turned around and laid his back against the marking. He summoned his magic and the white light briefly outlined his shape. The light then raced through the cracks in the stones and then vanished, taking with it a section of the wall.

The revealed hallway was narrow and not very long. At the end of the short hallway was a door, like any of the other doors in the City in the Sky. When Link approached, the door opened without a sound and Link stepped out onto a small balcony. The wind was tremendous here and more blustery than usual. Luckily, Link had the forethought to slip into the iron boots before walking out. If he hadn't, the great gusts would have blown him off the side of the balcony and to Link could only surmise was his eventual death.

Link couldn't recall visiting this spot before. He checked the map and indeed, there was no marking. Too dangerous a place that no one would find to waste the ink for, Link supposed.

The wind was truly terrible here. It blew much more frequently, rapidly, though it did not last as long. Link looked about the balcony. Truthfully, there wasn't much to inspect. It was a plain, regular stone balcony with not a vine of ivy, an opening for the spinner, or any sort of oddity that struck out to Link. He hung his head in disappointment. Things, after all, were going so well. He had found a new spot, except there wasn't anything interesting here.

Link turned to leave and as he did so, made one last farewell check. On a hunch, he looked to the sky and found a peahat. Not just one but a long string of them leading high up into the heavens, so high up the pathway faded into the misty clouds. He had not heard them, what with the wind too loud in his ears, and usually the sound of their spinning always had alerted him to their presence before.

Link found the path of peahats exciting. And not just for himself, though he was thrilled by the prospect of an unexplored section of the City, but for Shad as well. Link had finally found something truly fascinating. Something that was sure to please Shad and reignite the scholar's boundless enthusiasm and hopefully would provide much needed answers and clues about the Oocca for the pair of them.

Much as he was eager to go on, Link had to go back. He had to get Shad and show him this and take him along. He wouldn't have it any other way. Even if Link had no idea where they were going or how dangerous it might end up being, especially for Shad. But no matter. Shad deserved to be there and explore it with him as much as Link was entitled. And if Link was going to keep his promise, Shad would have to be there beside him.

Because of the wind, Ooccoo and her son had stayed inside. Link rushed to rejoin them and asked Ooccoo if her son would immediately bring him back to the Messenger's Library. She agreed and soon Link and Ooccoo and her son were gone.


	5. Chapter 5

Story Title: Our Wind Will Shake the Earth and Stars

Disclaimer: Still don't own The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, yeah?

Author's Notes: More thanks go out to mysticalgems, Kit, Tapix, Tavi, deadaleta, Anon256, and Rei Uchiha339 for reviewing.

In the games, Link generally picks up new skills very easily. Well, unless I'm controlling him. At least, the first play. Anyway, I wanted our Mr. Perfect Hero to be a little more believable, so it takes him a few more tries to figure things out. Though he still learns quicker than most people realistically would. Necessity and all.

Thanks for reading.

-o-

Chapter Five: The Light Spirits' Delivery

-o-

_The Oocca are truly fascinating. Truly_, Shad thought as he paused in his translation after jotting down a note in his father's journal._ What wondrous creatures, they are. _

Leaning back into his seat, Shad removed his spectacles and rubbed his eyes. He was not quite positive on how long he had been working, though if he had to estimate it would have been a few hours, but one thing was clear to Shad—he was learning much. It was a slow but steady progress and vastly rewarding with every completed sentence. The Oocca, after all, were truly fascinating.

And there were so many other very interesting things still to learn. Especially when it came to the history of the Oocca. Shad had flipped through the other yet-unread book and of what he had already translated in this book combined with his fleeting glances through the other, neither one really touched on the history of the sky beings. In fact, the books seemed to skirt around the subject. Shad was of the mindset that perhaps these hardly important to downright irrelevant passages he came across were an elaborate scheme to hide or avoid ever mentioning the Oocca's collective history.

Tired of sitting and specifically of the dull ache in his legs, Shad rose from his seat and paced about the Messenger's Library. The watching Oocca, who had yet to move or stare anywhere else but on Shad, followed his every step. Shad tried his best to not be disturbed by its ever-constant gaze, but he figured it would be easier to convince the Postman to pause in his delivery than for him to finally adjust to the Oocca's stare.

As he stepped about and sorted through and categorized in his head the new bits of newly acquired information, Shad noticed his stare angle and focus to the left. The swell of magic pressed into the library and, seconds later, Link came spinning into the room.

Shad hardly had time to blink before Link was pulling him toward Ooccoo Jr. "Shad! You have to see!"

Shad dug in his boot heels to slow the swordsman's eager haste. "Please, old boy, do provide some variety of an explanation first."

"I found a path," Link said, paused but still holding Shad's wrists. "I don't know where it leads or how dangerous it is but it's new. I want you to explore it with me."

_A new path?_ Shad stood astonished as his mind delved into the prospects and wonders of an uncharted section. "In that case, let us hasten!" Shad said, his anticipation matching Link's.

Ooccoo Jr. teleported Shad first. As he waited for Link, the scholar stood in the revealed hallway and focused on it as his bearings steadied. _I surmise I will never get accustomed to Ooccoo Jr.'s means of transport_, Shad thought as the last of his blurry-whirly dizziness subsided. _It is a wonder to me as to how Link manages so without any show of effect. Stronger constitution, I suppose._

Ooccoo Jr. brought Link and then sighed and fluttered down to the floor. A protective mother, Ooccoo raced to her son's side and held the sweating young Oocca in a winged embrace.

Feeling miraculously expressed through emotionless eyes, Ooccoo peered up to Link and said, "I am sorry, adventurer, but we cannot follow you. My son is much too exhausted. He is a brave boy but his magic does have its limits. Perhaps after he is rested, we will join you."

"Of course, Ooccoo," Link nodded. "Thanks for your help."

"He will be all right, will he?" Shad asked. "I would feel simply awful if all our traveling caused the poor boy any harm."

"Gracious, no, young scholar! You did him no harm," Ooccoo said, fanning her son with one wing. "He'll up and fluttering about soon enough. Rest is all he needs."

"As you say then," Shad said, concern still on his face as he watched Ooccoo Jr, flushed and panting, be tended by his mother. "We are ever so grateful for your assistance. You were the ones who made this possible."

Ooccoo smiled and gave a nod of appreciation accepted before returning to looking after her exhausted son. Shad set aside his worry only at the touch of Link's hand on his shoulder. He turned to him.

"Ready?" Link said, "It's just down this hall."

Shad supposed he was and headed with Link down the rest of the revealed hallway, muttering a short prayer to the Goddesses to speed Ooccoo Jr.'s recovery along the way.

Following Link's warning that he stay inside the hall, Shad stepped back a tile or two, just in case, while Link approached the door to trigger its self-opening mechanisms. When the door opened itself, he saw blue skies and no pathway.

"Pardon me, old boy," Shad said while Link put on the iron boots, "but where is this new path? If you are proposing we dive off this balcony and whistle for a large bird to come by and catch us, I will assure you of your madness."

"There's a string of peahats leading into the sky," Link explained as he adjusted the hold of the apparent pair of clawed devices on his arms. At last satisfied, Link dropped his arms to his sides and faced toward Shad. "Hop onto my back and hold on."

"Are you s-serious?" Shad asked, mouth parted open in disbelief.

"Yea," Link said frankly and evidently unbothered by the situation. "Not really any other way. I can't hold you, so you have to hold onto me. …Unless you'd prefer staying behind."

"Heavens no, old boy! I will not be left behind!" Shad said. And then much more timidly, "So…um…how will we go about this?"

"I don't know," Link said, shrugging his shoulders as he turned around to face the door, his back to Shad. "Whatever feels comfortable with you. Make sure you're secure."

Shad approached Link shyly. Perhaps Link was accustomed to such forwardness but Shad was raised differently. A gentleman's personal space always remained at a proper, respectful distance to another's. One did not simply hop on another's back and away they went. Even among the most intimate of friends did not share such closeness.

_Circumstances do decree some flouting of decorum, I suppose, _Shad reminded himself. _After all, when it comes to exploring the City in the Sky, such societal rules do not apply. …Forgive me, Mother, for my transgressions but I am my father's son. _

"Then I suppose…" Shad said as he wrapped his arms and secured a hold around Link's chest. "…this shall suffice."

Link nodded and, once outside, aimed for the first peahat. The claws made contact and sent Link and Shad flying. As the chain met its end, the recoil jerked through Shad and almost cost him his grip. From then on, Shad had his arms and legs wrapped around Link's torso and clung against him, as they rose higher and higher with every peahat.

"You're mad, you know that?" Shad shouted, uncertain if his voice would carry in the blustery wind otherwise. "Absolutely, positively barking mad!

Shad could have sworn Link was laughing.

-o-

Unable to see any more peahats in the thick, misty clouds, Link lowered the chain on a hunch and found a solid surface amid the rolling white vapor. He told Shad, still pressed against him for dear life, that they were here—though where that was, Link had no idea—and disengaged the clawshot from the final peahat.

"Astounding as it is for something to be up so high here," Shad said as he looked around and eased his nerves from their risky climb. "It is quite impossible to observe anything. I say, the visibility here is about as well as it is on Snowpeak during a blizzard, at least according to Ashei's accounts."

_Worse actually_, Link judged. _And at least on Snowpeak, I could see around with a wolf's sense of smell._

"There has to be something here," Link said, iron boots and clawshots put away as he gave his tired muscles a much-needed break. The climb had been more strenuous than Link thought it would. Shad was heavier than he looked, though Link guessed most of his weight came from his rucksack. "And we'll find it. Watch your step."

"Quite so, " Shad agreed as he peered over his shoulder and down an assumed edge. "I shudder to imagine the terror of a fall from this elevation."

Shad followed a few steps behind Link as they made their way blindly up the apparent stairway. A thought hit Link as he surveyed their shrouded surroundings that even if there were something to find up here, they probably wouldn't be able to see it.

"Bizarre feeling, isn't it?" Shad said, whether toward him or simply aloud, Link wasn't sure. "It is as if we are traveling through a cloud. I suppose, we technically are."

Link was about to toss Shad an agreeing nod when his left hand started burning. He bit down a curse and managed to mostly stifle his gasp of pain as he grabbed his left wrist, his hand searing with a white-hot ache, reminiscent to Link like that of a heated branding iron on his skin and was a pain that was not all that unfamiliar to him.

Making a quick check of it, sure enough he saw the mark of the Triforce reacting with a slow, pulsing glow. Shad hurried to Link's side and stared in open-mouthed awe and bewilderment at Link's active Triforce. Holding his arm out at shoulder-height, Link followed the guiding pulse of the Triforce through the clouds.

Shad and Link were led toward a shrouded silhouette of a building of vast height and length that Link would have most likely found and investigated anyway without the Triforce's insistence. But either the Goddesses were assuring they came here or simply wished to get the pumpkin rolling, so to speak, Link wasn't sure which but he knew could have done without the divine prodding.

Standing before the presumed entrance, the pulsing ceased and the glow of Link's Triforce steadied. A second larger Triforce then appeared out of the mists, its glow burning away the haze and revealing an intricately sealed door.

Compelled by the Triforce, Link lined up the twin marks of divine power. Their glows harmonized briefly before both Triforces disappeared, taking the door's seal along with it.

"This is certainly something, now isn't it?" Shad said, all smiles and bright-eyed excitement.

With some strain, Link pushed the heavy stone doors open. The chamber was surprisingly lit, by what Link could not tell. There was no discernable source of ordinary light anywhere in the room. The ovoid-shaped chamber's dimensions were immense and had high, vast vaulted ceilings. Link stood in place while Shad stepped about, his light footsteps reverberating throughout.

The walls were covered wholly in small mosaic pieces of sky blue crystal. The matching color floor tiles lay in an uneven pattern with varying-sized spacing gaps between one another. The chamber was quartered into four sections and in each corner of sorts there was a pool of water contained and bordered in by large water-smoothed stones.

He heard Shad taking notes and muttering indistinctly to himself. Link started wandering around the mysterious chamber as well, his own curiosity peaked and memories stirred. The construction of the room all seemed vaguely familiar to Link. There was an undercurrent in the air that spoke to Link and welcomed him as an old acquaintance. From where and how he recognized it, however, he couldn't recall.

The central focal point of the room was an altar within a fountain located in the exact spot where the four quarters met. The altar was simple. It was just a stone base and four pillars holding up a vaulted ceiling. A gold rod stood atop the altar's ceiling. Its stand was molded and forged to look like talons. Water inexplicably flowed from the talons and down the grooved pillars and into the surrounding pool.

Link made his way up the short set of stairs to the altar and searched. On a waist-height slab of stone stood a carving of an open book and, as he somewhat expected, there were words etched onto the immovable pages. Link tried to discern the writing but he had no clue what it said or even what language it was supposed to be.

"Shad!" Link called. "Come look at this."

The scholar hurried over. "Yes, Link, what have you discovered?" Link pointed at the engraved carving. "Appears to be Ancient Hylian, if I am not mistaken and I highly doubt that I am," Shad said as he adjusted his slipped spectacles.

"Can you read it?" Link asked.

Shad flashed a proud smile, "My picture books as a baby were written in Ancient Hylian, old boy. Shall I?"

Link sidestepped to allow Shad full view over the message. After a momentary pause to work out a few translation issues, Shad believed he knew what the message read.

"It is a spell, no, an invocation," he explained. "Perhaps we should grant it a try and observe its effects?"

Link nodded and Shad read the invocation aloud. At first, nothing happened and Shad was stricken with despair and began muttering over the text in frantic search of any possible mispronunciation. Feeling the change in the air, Link raised his head and eyed about the chamber intently.

First, the water flowing from the talons glowed with a bright blue light. Then, the pool surrounding the altar filled with the glowing water. Openings appeared in the barrier and the glowing water poured into the gaps between the tiles. Curving and wavy bright blue patterns marked all across the floor.

"Brilliant," Shad whispered in awe as the water flowed upward and illuminated the crystal mosaic. "Do you feel that, old boy? We are in the presence of great magic. …Outstanding."

The entire chamber was aglow. Link now recognized the undercurrent of magic in the air. The sounds of water dripping only served to confirm his memory. The four pools of water shined with a gold and white-gold light, its radiance blinding the room. A great wind blew through the chamber carrying in its breeze the smell of dry, dusty clay dirt, of fresh hay and newly-cut grass, of the cool, wet riverbanks, and the loamy, green forests. With a final burst of blinding light, the four Light Spirits appeared.

"Oh, brave youth, you have summoned us to the physical world to this forgotten Messenger's Chamber," the Light Spirits said in unison. "The balance between the light and dark has been restored and the dark king has perished from our world. You know this well, hero chosen by the Goddesses, and yet here we four guardians of the Light stand. Speak now your request so that we may return to our duties decreed by the Goddesses."

"I and my friend…" Link said, "We seek your help. The Oocca have lost their true forms and their memories. We ask that you restore them."

"We cannot fulfill such a request," the Light Spirits replied.

Their response took Link aback at first. He hadn't expected it be that difficult of a task for the Light Spirits. After all, they had brought back and broken the curse on Midna, but then again Link could not be certain any of that happened as it had. He actually hadn't seen it for himself, only assumed.

And the more he considered, the more he realized it would require great magic, quantity and power, to return the Oocca as they were. Magic far greater than even the Light Spirits possessed.

"Then tell us if there is a way to restore the Oocca and if so, how?"

The golden liquid light bodies of the four spirits rippled and shimmered as the Light Spirits considered in silence.

"The knowledge of how to restore the Oocca to their true forms, is that the information you seek?"

"Yes," Link said, nodding firmly.

"And once you have obtained said information, will you pursue your goal of restoring the Oocca to the very end? Will nothing persuade you from your objective?"

"Nothing will," Link said, confident he would prove to the Light Spirits his depth of determination. "We will stop at nothing until the Oocca are themselves again."

As the Light Spirits' stares focused on Shad, Link gave the wonderstruck scholar a mild push forward.

"Y-Yes…t-that is so," Shad agreed.

"So it be then," the Light Spirits replied. Link and Shad looked at one another and beamed with hope and anticipation.

And then rays of light charged and arched into a swirling, spiral sphere before each Light Spirit and all Link's joy and hope crumbled to wide-eyed confusion and terror.

Link could tell the light was not the sort of delicate, warm, welcoming light of the morning sun but the concentrated, sharp, searing light like that of a beamos's laser. It was not a kind, comforting light. It was a blinding, burning light. A light meant to obliterate him and Shad from all existence.

"Goodbye, brave youth and friend."

Shad caught onto Link's fear and to the wrongness of the Spirits' behavior and clung to Link's arm. "We're going to perish, aren't we?" he asked, panic wavering his voice.

Link looked about the Messenger's Chamber, his eyes darting between the Light Spirits' charged light orbs and possible escape routes. Which there apparently were none. There was only one door, one entrance and exit, and the ornate seal had reappeared and denied them escape.

"Wait! What are you doing? Why?" he asked, pleading to the spirits to explain.

The Light Spirits did not respond. Their deep roars vibrated the room, shaking everything violently and heavily sloshing water about. Link struggled but managed to stay standing only by bracing his hands and arms against the altar. Shad had fallen to his knees and muttered to himself. Whether it was prayers or self-recriminations, Link could not tell.

Through the roars, there was a sharp, sudden crack, a sound that easily equated to the snap of a falling tree in Link's memory. He searched and rapidly found the four support pillars of the altar surrounding them riddled with breaks and crumbling as if they were made of soapstone in the quake. Alarmed by the popping and crackling noises from above, Link grabbed Shad and barely managed to dive out of the way as the altar collapsed, leaving only rubble and a puff cloud of dust when it was all over.

"_Answer me!_" Link demanded, panic giving way to anger. No, not merely anger, but fury.

And still the Light Spirits did not respond. The Light Spirits attacked, sending their four blazing suns spiraling toward Link and Shad. Delirious in the prospect of death, Shad rambled an apology to Link for involving him in this mess and held onto him, pressing his wet face into Link's shoulder. Futile as the gesture may have been but ever the protector, Link wrapped his arm around Shad and positioned himself in the path of first harm. And then he waited for his skin to start singeing.

The burning began but on his left hand, not his back. His strength waned, pouring out from top to bottom down out of him. He found himself unable to keep his grip, unable to hold Shad. His arms slid off the scholar's back and Link found himself leaning more against Shad, using him to keep himself propped. He had no other choice but, no longer able to keep himself up on his own.

Every bone ached. Every muscle urged to stretch. His blood ran hot. Every heartbeat was regular but every rhythmic pulse was felt deep and throughout his body. White-gold flames and starbursts of light danced before his eyes. A low, rumbling roar rang in his ears. Link thought he was mistaken at first but his first impressions were right after all—the roar was a song, ancient, primeval. A song sung with earthy resonance and otherworldly airiness. Earth and sky united.

_Welcome, hero_, sang the creatures of heaven and earth._ Awaken and rise._

Link willed himself to rise. With everything he had, he forced his shaking self to lift from his mash against Shad and hold himself up on his hands as his bones broke, as fire embraced him, as light overtook his sight, as heat stole all the air from his lungs. Link withstood the pain, as his skin scorched and flaked away. There was one last act he was determined to carry out.

He raised his head high and returned the song.

-o-

_…Never should have came here. Should have been satisfied in your findings. Should have let things be, stayed home, and had a cup of tea_, Shad chastised himself as Link screamed._ Never should have believed you could handle this—you are not Link. And even he cannot withstand this. This is your fault. Never summon spirits you cannot put down._

An impact and explosion. Shad had no time to think on it as the blast rocked him from his knees to the floor. He felt the heat of the flames but was not burned. Shad could not yet see for the bright light blinding him, but he felt the impression of what only could be described as great arms covered over him, shielding him.

As the light and heat died down, Shad heard a rumble. At first, he thought it was a minor aftershock from the explosion, but realized it sounded living, as if it came from a creature, that it was a growl.

"Link?" The heat had left Shad's voice dry and hoarse.

Shad received no answer.

He forced himself up and to sitting as soon as he could. Opening his eyes and finding a thick layer of dust from the altar's collapse coating his spectacles, Shad hastily cleaned them. He wanted to know if Link was okay. He had to be okay. He just wasn't responding. Didn't mean that he was dead, just unconscious. Maybe. Hopefully. Shad wasn't certain how divine fire could make a person unconscious, but it was better than thinking Link was nothing more than ash and bone.

His spectacles adequately clear, Shad slipped them back on and looked to where he last knew Link had been. But in his place sat a beast.

-o-

As the pain edged off and his bones ceased to shift and pop and realign, Link felt strong enough to stand and, in doing so, realized he was back to four legs again. The shift from two-feet to four-feet again, Link could adjust to with relative ease. That didn't bother him at all, what with his previous experience. What he was having trouble with was his size. He was much larger than himself. He was much larger than a wolf. If there was anything Link was certain about, it was that he was not a wolf.

He heard Shad call him and turned to face him, feeling strange doing so, not used to turning a longer neck or peering down a longer face. Shad stared back at him saucer-eyed, jaw unabashedly dropped with a mixed expression of confusion, disbelief, and terror. Clearly this form what not the Link the scholar expected to find.

Rusl's words of wisdom and battle experience told Link to never face away from his enemy for long and so he focused back on the Light Spirits.

The Light Spirits were quiet. If Link had to guess, he supposed they were thinking on his new form, what it meant, and how difficult it would make taking him down. There was an uncertainty in the air, Link sensed. Some coming from the Light Spirits, some from Shad, and Link indeed wasn't too confident in his new skin yet either.

"Chosen hero," the Light Spirits at last spoke, "though you have changed into that of a forgotten beast, our message shall not. We cannot allow you and your friend to leave this chamber alive. It is our responsibility decreed by the Goddesses to guard our lands, to uphold the Light and we shall."

The points of his claws clacking on the tiled floor, Link stepped forward and crouched down into a fighting stance. Well, if there was anything Link was entirely certain about, it was that neither he nor Shad was dying today. Not if he was able to fight. With a deep, low growl, Link challenged the Light Spirits.

Instead of charging their light into orb blasts again, the Light Spirits shot rays of light throughout the Messenger's Chamber. Link easily dodged the small blasts that came first for him and immediately made a quick check on Shad. He was up and evading the rays, albeit running around terrified out of his mind and just managing to miss bolts by pure luck.

Relying on himself and not just good fortune to keep Shad alive through this mess, Link hastened to reach him. Ordona, the Ordon goat spirit of Light, charged after him. The guardian of his home province was much faster than Link, mostly due to his inexperience managing his new, much longer tail while running keeping him from maintaining good speed. Ordona raced ahead and cut Link off. Link hurried to evade the Light Spirits' rays and tried a new direction. Again Ordona rushed in front of him and again Link had to avoid harm.

There had to be a way around Ordona. Outrunning the spirit wasn't an option. Neither was outmaneuvering—Ordona was fast enough to turn and charge back at Link if he tried running to Shad after Ordona passed by. But there had to be some way of reaching him.

Link had an idea but he wasn't sure if it would work. Really, it was his only idea and his only option. He guessed it was better than nothing and trying wouldn't hurt. Well, actually if his idea failed, it would hurt. A lot, he estimated. _As long as it doesn't kill me_, Link told himself.

Link raced alongside of Ordona and built up his speed. When he felt that he had gained all that he could, Link leaped into the air. Ordona immediately turned around and rushed him, head lowered and ready to ram Link. With an infinitesimal moment used to hope his idea worked, Link unfolded his wings.

_Please! Work!_ He shouted in his head as he hastily fluttered his large wings to maintain air. Not getting much lift with the smaller beat, he tried a grand flap and wished for the best. Perhaps it was not quite the best effort by any stretch but it was well enough—Link flew over Ordona.

It was amazing. He had _flew._ He was _flying_. There was an indescribable, immeasurable joy and lightness in his heart rushing through him. But much as he liked to indulge in the thrill, now was not the time to celebrate.

Link landed, well, crashed onto the floor, got up quickly, and raced toward Shad. The scholar was still alive. Miraculously. It couldn't have been due to luck only. Shad had told Link at their first meet he lacked physical skills, but he obviously knew how to run, dodge, and duck and cover.

Shad saw Link coming. He clearly did not know the beast barreling toward him was Link by the flash of panic on his face as Link drew closer. Shad tried running from him but Link was faster. Link pushed his head between Shad's legs and tossed him onto his back.

Link rushed to regain speed and tried flying. His takeoff was awkward, wobbly, and his body rocked from side to side as he tried to stay aloft. He hadn't yet gotten used to balancing and steering with his tail. Well, to the general process of flying, but what better way to learn quickly than when your life depended on it?

The water serpent Lanayru struck. Link swiftly rose to dodge and Shad dangled from his neck, his hold around him unbreakable, as far as Link was assured. A short spiral to evade the monkey Faron and a happy accident with his steering letting him miss Ordona, Link swooped down and up and avoided their rays of light. The only Light Spirit to not physically assail Link yet, aside from light bursts, was Eldin. Link supposed that even with the Messenger's Chamber's large dimensions that the hawk spirit could not spread its massive wings and fly properly in the room. Up to his elongated neck in trouble as is, Link wasn't exactly missing the attack.

Not that Eldin was ineffectual in the fight. In the flurry of swoops, spirals, and dives to avoid the other Light Spirits, a warning sparked in Link's head and when he checked, he saw that Eldin was charging an orb of light. Link spiraled out of the curl of Faron's tail as the monkey tried to grab him and made a sharp turn out of the way of Lanayru's gaping jaws.

Link could dodge the Light Spirits all he could, but the fact remained that there was no way of escaping the Messenger's Chamber and, as much as Link refused to admit it, he did have his limits. The rush of flight could only bear him aloft for so long. He would eventually tire, though not anytime soon.

And he had to consider Shad's safety. The scholar would exhaust and his grip would fail far sooner than Link would give out. And all of Link's necessary, life-preserving aerial acrobatics had to be taxing on him. Link needed to find an escape. He needed to get away from the infinitely-powered Light Spirits.

Soaring past Ordona's string of light rays, Link searched the vaulted ceiling to the ovoid-shaped room and found no opening, no windows to crash through. The Messenger's Chamber was, absolutely just like an egg—impenetrable, unmarred, and whole. Only way of getting out was to make an exit. And if Link was going to make it out of here, it would not be using his own power.

Distracted as he bypassed another strike from Lanayru, Link roared in agony as a sudden ray of concentrated light from Ordona clipped his left wing, its heat and pain searing from muscle to bone. Faron wrapped its tail around Link, momentarily jarred by the pain, and pulled him down. Link wriggled, clawed, and snapped at Faron's tail trying to get free but the Light Spirit did not relent. Link heard Shad cry out as Faron constricted the pair of them. Link's efforts to free himself doubled.

Faron did unexpectedly release them. And then it was not so unexpectedly as Link noticed he and Shad had been tossed into the air and right into the path of Eldin's fired light orb. Body aching and one wing injured, Link soared ahead of the spiraling orb, its flames lashing at his tail. To his relief, Shad had managed to hang on and keep his grip around his neck.

_Just a little longer. Hang on just a little longer_, Link wished. Getting about as much distance between himself and the light orb as he expected he would, though wasn't much, Link waited, and at the right moment, rose up and out of the orb's path. The orb spiraled into the chamber wall, the explosion sending heat and fire back toward Link. He fluttered backwards out the way and then, seeing the shine of daylight through the swirling dark dust clouds, dove toward the wall.

As the other three Light Spirits gave shooting Link down with light rays one final try, Lanayru slithered itself between Link and the newly-created exit. Link avoided the water serpent's first strike and then its second. He flew about its head, missed strikes, and thoroughly frustrated the spirit. So desperate and determined to kill Link, Lanayru hardly noticed it wasn't effectively guarding the gap. Equally blind in their endeavor, neither did the other Light Spirits. With a sudden turn and Lanayru's gaping jaws trailing behind him, Link dove down and spiraled through the blasted hole in the chamber wall and into blue sky.

Never was Link so happy to see the sky. Even with the ache in his left wing, he delighted in the sensation of flight. After all, now was the time he could offer a moment to enjoy the thrill.

"…We made it. Somehow," Shad said aloud, half-delirious with laughter from fear and now overwhelming joy. "Thank you, you magnificent beast for saving me. I am terribly concerned about Link, however. I do hope he is alive and well. Where ever did the old boy vanish? I hope not in the flames."

Link's low, suppressed laugh came across as more as a deep rumble in his throat. So Shad wasn't aware that this new form and Link were the same yet. Oh well, he would soon enough, Link guessed.

Though not quite yet.

The air was shaking. Feeling the rumbling coming from the Messenger's Chamber before he heard it, Link turned and looked. Heavy cracks lined the ceiling of the egg-shaped building. With a final shock and a powerful blast, the ceiling crumbled. And soaring through the dust and falling rubble came Eldin.

Link rushed to escape but the hawk spirit with its mammoth wingspan caught up with him in a one and a half great flaps. Eldin soared into Link and tangled him in talons and trapped him in the strange air drafts the hawk's beating wings created. Link rolled along in their downward spiral, biting, clawing, and lashing his tail at the colossal hawk doing all he could to free himself while Eldin did everything to keep Link in his harmful grasp. They were an interlocked mess of pain and fury, and in the tumble of talons and wings, Eldin knocked Shad off Link.

Everything but his pumping heart seemed to slow as Link saw the scholar fall. All he could think about was how he had, roundabout or directly so, promised Rusl he would watch over Shad. But even without a promise to Rusl, Link had promised himself he would protect him. He knew Shad wasn't as skilled as himself in messy situations and he had gotten Shad into this madness. He was his friend and he was not about to fail his friend.

Protective rage coursing through him, Link struck out and sunk his jaws into the connection between Eldin's neck and right wing. He gnawed into whatever impossibly felt like bone, breaking it. He tore and ripped and jerked the mass of 'flesh' in his mouth, determined if all possible to pull every bit it from Eldin. Link wasn't positive how he was physically harming a spirit and he wasn't even certain if the Light Spirits had corporal bodies to harm, but he was doing just that, if Eldin's reared-back shriek of pain was any proof.

Struggling to stay aloft, Eldin writhed and kicked, throwing Link aside. Link quickly orientated himself from the toss and dove for Shad.

Link's new hypersensitive eyes saw more and deeper than he ever had before. He could pick up on the slightest minute movement so easily and at a much greater distance. It was nothing for him to catch the flutter of Shad's short purple jacket so very far below him.

Shad's stillness concerned Link. He wasn't panicking or flailing. He wasn't even screaming. He had to be unconscious. It was the only way the scholar would ever be so calm and motionless in the face of impending death.

Link plummeted but still it was not fast enough. There had to be a way. There had to be some way of speeding up and reaching Shad. Link would damn himself before he failed him.

Chalking it up to his worry for Shad and determination, Link shook. His body seemed overcome with waiting energy. Link hardly paid mind, his thoughts solely focused on saving Shad. Readying for a grand flap, Link brought his wings up and close together and when he did so, a ball of white-blue light appeared before his eyes. A little shift of his wings proved it wasn't a ball at all but an expanding ring as he completed his flap. No better way to know what it did otherwise, Link soared through the ring.

Link's wings pressed close to his body, aglow in white-blue light. The wind rushed past him as he dove faster, his surroundings completely unperceivable. Link felt an odd impression come over him, as he glowed brightly and burned with an inner fire. He felt like a comet, or at least like the description of a comet Rusl said flew over Ordon Village the night Link was born.

Though he couldn't see where he was going gliding so fast, Link still knew where he was. He could sense his position, Shad's position, and the quickly closing gap of distance separating them clearly in his mind's eye. He knew exactly where and when to open his wings and stall his descent.

As he reached his mark, Link spread his wings, the white-blue light dispersed in a grand flash, and with a little groan in his throat as he bore his sudden weight, Link caught Shad. The scholar had indeed passed out, as Link suspected. Making a quick check to see if Eldin was in pursuit and seeing nothing, Link soared off.


	6. Chapter 6

Story Title: Our Wind Will Shake the Earth and Stars

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight Princess.

Author's Notes: Once again, I bestow appreciation to mysticalgems, Kit, Tavi, Tapix, Rei Uchiha339, Anon256, Rogue Blade, SweetTempest, and Shirosenshi Kisetsu 116 for reviewing.

While Link's Light Beast design came later, the initial idea came out of my frustration during my first play of TP as I kept falling off the cliffs around Lake Hylia and wished Wolf-Link could fly. Didn't know what creature he would be yet, but I swore it would fly. Also, Shad's expedition to the Temple of Time ruins at the end of TP didn't happen yet in this fic.

Thanks for reading.

-o-

Chapter Six: Come Upon A Grove of Old Trees

-o-

Shad was having a very strange and very lengthy dream. No, not the recurring one where he stands naked in the central square and fails to recite his father's Five Fundamental F's of Academic Exploration and the townsfolk laughs at him, whether at his blunder or his nakedness Shad is never certain of. No, this dream was much odder. It was also rapidly becoming one of his worst nightmares.

He dreamed about going with Link to the City in the Sky in a dreadful cannon, meeting the sky beings, being attacked by the sky beings, uncovering a new chamber, summoning four Light Spirits, and being viciously attacked and almost getting incinerated out of existence by the Light Spirits, if it were not for the heroics of a marvelous flying beast. Oh, and yes, Link had somehow mysteriously vanished. Poof.

Shad knew he would laugh about the dream as he headed off to meet Link at Lake Hylia. He would tell Link and he would laugh about it as well. They would both find amusement in the preposterousness and then Link would reveal to Shad his discovery and that would be all.

Sunlight struck his shut eyes. Shad slowly stirred. His head ached, well, his whole body ached, but the most pounding, pressing pain was in his head. Shad groaned as he sat up, a hand on his temple and his eyes still closed. Funny how his bed felt just like hard earth and his bedroom was unusually well lit, and there was what Shad was fairly certain was a moist lakeside breeze blowing in.

Shad opened his eyes and saw little without his spectacles. He was outside, he knew that now, and oddly, it did not alarm him all that much. Logic told him that it should but it did not, his common sense lost in pain.

A figure stood crouched in front of him. Shad strained to perceive any discernible features and match them to memory, and then, failing that, hurried to distinguish the figure as friend or foe. Though it was extremely blurry, Shad had determined at last that the figure was quite Link-shaped. Few words could express the full depth of Shad's relief to learn that Link had made it through all right after all.

"Quite the magician, you are, old boy," Shad said as he padded a hand about and searched for his spectacles. "Had me terribly worried. I feared the worst when you vanished. Of course you are of hardier stock than I, so really I had nothing to fear, I see. Speaking of which, could you assist me in tracking down my—oh, never mind, here they are."

Shad put his spectacles back on and—

Shad screamed.

Wide-eyed in terror, he scuttled backwards on his hands and readied himself to leap up, turn tail, and run away with all the life in him at first forward motion of the beast. Except that the beast did not advance toward him. Or display any aggression. It just sat there, looking at him and, at Shad's show of fear, tipped its head to the side. Rather like a confused puppy.

_Very well then, I am not dreaming. No, I am not dreaming at all, _Shad realized, his breaths audible and rapid._ …I wish I was._

In other circumstances, like if he hadn't just survived divine incineration and if Link were with him to offer protection, Shad would find the sight and discovery of this creature marvelous and fascinating. But Shad was on his own and if the beast decided to attack Shad, well, the beast would win.

But it really was a remarkable beast, Shad had to admit. Having no other precise means of describing what it was—no scientific name, no folk name, no anything—Shad simply called it what it was. The beast was a feathered dragon.

Shad had read about dragons. He had read about them in legends and old myths, the not-so-quite-factual-but-possibly-could-have-been side of Hyrule's deep and fascinating history and personally, his favorite side and his ultimate field of expertise. Most stories depicted dragons as awful monsters necessary to be killed post haste, though there was one dragon that had been friends with a previous Hero in childhood, except that later it too had to be slain.

But none of the stories ever described a dragon like the one before him. None of the other dragons ever had feathers, for one thing. Feathers that changed from gold to white-gold to silver in a continuous fiery dance. Or their scales were ever a rich golden color that constantly sparkled. In fact, the entirety of the dragon's body curiously appeared to emit a soft light of its own accord.

The dragon sat patiently. Even stationary and showing absolutely no hostility, its presence exuded power, protective ferocity, and majesty in abundant spades. It was clearly a strong beast, a beast with pride. It commanded and deserved respect and Shad tried to remain as respectful as possible, lest he affront it and break its friendly disposition.

His heart still hammered in his chest and he had a lot of fear and uncertainty toward the dragon, but Shad mustered up the courage to stammer out, "H-Hello t-there."

The dragon smiled back, or well, gave what appeared and Shad hoped was a smile. Really, he was all too hesitant to confirm whether it was a smile and the scholar was far too preoccupied staring at its many large and very pointy teeth to correctly determine.

Though he tried to avert meeting the dragon's eyes out of respect, humility, fear, Shad kept finding himself gazing back into its eyes. And the longer Shad met the dragon's blue eyes, the more familiar their stare felt to him. He had seen them before. He had met them before. They held the same quality of inner wildness as before, only now it was unbridled in this new form. But where had he seen them? Where? It irked and irritated Shad to no end that he could not recall where.

And then it hit him.

Shad gasped, "_…Link?_"

At last recognized, dragon-Link stood up onto his four legs, without a doubt smiling, and wagged his tail, his long, flowing tail feathers curling and fanning into flame shapes.

"Well, this is a predicament of the most curious sort," Shad said, his mind still reeling in disbelief and trying desperately to make rationality out of irrationality. His endeavor was not exactly succeeding. He found it difficult to equate the young Hylian hero as the same as the magnificent, formidable dragon.

Drooping his shoulders and bowing his head, Shad sighed. "I suppose I simply need to become accustomed," he thought aloud.

Feeling his presence, or rather his new body's radiating light, Shad looked up to find Link standing close to him. So close Shad could only see his blue eyes in front of him. Shad found the gesture reassuring. It was as if Link was trying to tell him that no matter what shape his outward appearance took, inwardly he was still himself.

He raised his hand, tentatively at first, and laid it on dragon-Link's beaklike snout, "You certainly know how to uncover trouble and place yourself in the midst of it, do you not, old boy?"

Link made a short agreeing growl as Shad stroked up and along his muzzle, halting just short of his feathery frill, as the feathers around his head and neck, their wispy tips edged with a faint green tinge, blurred the lines between feather, flame, and wind.

Giving Link a final pat, Shad stood up from the ground, taking a moment to brush the dirt off himself. Taking a quick survey of his surroundings, he found himself and Link on a high cliff overlooking Lake Hylia.

"I say, I possess zero inking on how we shall manage to restore you to yourself but I promise you that we shall," Shad said. "After all, there was a way to metamorphose you into this beast so there must be a reversal. It is merely up to us to discover it."

"First things first, we can eliminate the obvious dead ends. We can abandon petitioning the Light Spirits for any variety of aid." And then Shad crossed his arms over his chest, bowed his head, and began to deeply think on their possibilities.

"The royal family does possess quite a talent and proficiency in magic," he deliberated aloud. "Perhaps Princess—oh how dare I make such gaffe—Queen Zelda can…"

Shad let his thought trail off and meet its end. Sure, yes, it was an idea, but Shad did not believe this was such a task the newly-coronated queen could succeed at accomplishing. It was true that the royal family did possess great magic but would Her Majesty be strong enough to break the enchantments of the Light Spirits? Shad had his doubts she could.

He supposed it was an option, really one of their few. And even if she could not transform Link back, perhaps Queen Zelda would offer her aid and library resources so that a proper solution could be found. After all, what did Shad and Link have to lose in trying?

Link pressed his dragon forehead against Shad's side and gave a gentle push and growl, bringing the scholar back to attention and to his focus.

"Do you have an idea, old boy?"

Link nodded.

"And since your means of communicating with me are limited, you will be showing me your plan, I presume?" Shad said, receiving a second nod from Link.

"Marvelous, old boy! Except…" Shad gazed out over the edge of the cliff out onto Lake Hylia's sparkling surface. "How ever will we depart this cliff? Certainly will not be an easy undertaking, that I will assure you."

Link opened his wings a fraction, making enough sound and movement to catch the scholar's awareness.

"Well, that will suffice your escape," Shad said. "Mine, however, will take a much greater deal of time and effort, I am sorry to say."

Link made a low, airy grunt that sounded awfully like an audible roll of his eyes to the scholar. He stepped in front of Shad, kneeled down before him, and gave a sharp nod back in a clear signal for him to get on.

Shad's face glazed in shock. He pointed at himself and then at Link and then Link confirmed his suspicions with another nod. He had rather hoped Link had been kidding about the suggestion.

He tried to think of it as no different than mounting a horse and then Shad remembered he had never mounted a horse before. And his mind was just now starting to warm up to the idea of the dragon and Link being one in the same. All he could imagine now was him riding on Link's back, the close contact, the undulating movements as they soared…

Which was something he would rather not consider at the moment. The scene was bizarre enough. He did not need it to turn so very awkward. And then the scholar realized it already had.

"Well, yes, that would also suffice," Shad said, clearing his throat only to find it had gone dry. _I say, it is the most logical and practical means, though not the one I am most comfortable with. …Not that I have been comfortable with most of what has happened._

Timidly, Shad swung one leg over Link's dragon back and sat, wondering where he was supposed to hold onto him. So far, there was only his feathery frill but that seemed to Shad too much like he would be pulling on Link's hair.

"Are you…are you confident I am not too heavy?" Shad asked.

Link looked back and gave a brusque snort and a smirk, which pretty much solidified to Shad how preposterous Link thought his question was. And, to further remove all doubt, as Link rose to standing, he sharply popped his back and bounced Shad, much to the scholar's surprise and scramble to find a grip.

Link headed away from the cliff's edge, stepping back as far as he could go. Shad had to admit the feel of riding on dragon-Link's back was not as awkward as he thought it would be, though it was still a strange one.

"Umm…pardon me, old boy," Shad said as Link circled to face the edge of the cliff and dropped into a running stance, "but I have either been unconscious or in terrible fear of imminent death before to accurately assess you, so refresh my memory, do you actually know how to fly?"

Link did not respond the second time either when Shad repeated his question. It was quite possible he was calculating distance and speed and wind direction and whatnot necessary and had simply not heard Shad. It was also quite possible that Link was ignoring him.

Before Shad had the chance to ask where it would be okay to hold onto him, Link rushed off. In his haste, Shad leaned forward and wrapped his arms around the base of Link's neck. He did not quite trust touching his frill yet, though with his face now inches from it, he realized the flames his feathers fabricated produced less so much a searing heat than that of a gentle early spring morning.

Shad's eyes widened in uncertainty as he saw the edge of the cliff swiftly approaching. He thought a short prayer and hoped Link knew what he was doing. _Surely he does,_ he reassured himself. _The old boy would not be so rash and would never place the pair of us in such a position of danger. My worry is unfounded, right?_

…_Right?_

Link leapt off the cliff. With a flap of his wings, they rose a little. With a second flap, they rose a little less. And less. And less. Until it became apparent to Shad that they weren't rising at all and were, in fact, plummeting toward the overlooking rock formations below.

Shad shut his eyes and held onto Link's neck tighter. _I say, I should have recognized something was off when Link did not offer me a blasted answer!_

Pressed against him, Shad could feel Link's dragon muscles working, trying to aright himself, trying to capture loft. He was doing his best to save them. Whether his best was enough, Shad was too afraid to open his eyes to verify.

And then there was a very strange and sudden change in the air as Link swooped out of the plummet. The wind blew more steadily across and Link was no longer panicking. As a fine spray wet Shad's cheeks, he opened his eyes and slowly rose to sitting. They were skimming across Lake Hylia. In the windy rush by, Shad saw clear blue water, the early afternoon's white sunlight reflecting off the water, the surrounding rocky cliffs—the view was breathtaking.

Link ascended. Shad held around his neck and marveled at the experience of flying. Second only to his first sight of the City in the Sky, this was one of the greatest moments in all of his short life. An instant ago, his heart beat in terror. Now, it beat in incontestable joy. _A wondrous world we live in_, Shad thought in awe.

Link steadied and piloted their course toward the southeast. Much as he enjoyed admiring the magnificent view, a small matter pressed on Shad's annoyance, and the more he tried to brush it aside, the more he found himself wanting to mention it.

"A simple warning would have sufficed, old boy," Shad said. "I would have liked to know you had not exactly mastered the art of flight yet. Would have been valued information to know, do you not think?"

As Link turned his head to offer a response, they dropped from the sky. Rapidly shifting his attention back on the task at hand, Link soared back up to a preferred height in the air, beheading the tops of only four and a half pine trees in the process.

Shad apologized for the disturbance as he swallowed his fright and steadied a hand over his pounding heart. _Best to not bother the old boy mid-flight. I say, not until he has at last mastered flying completely at least._

-o-

As they passed by small villages, the scholar wondered what the locals would deem of the rather slow-moving shooting star blazing by through the late evening sky. Shad supposed that any angle one approached to solving the mystery would yield only wild explanations. Most would probably chalk up the sight to the Goddesses and leave it at that.

As beautiful and wondrous as the innumerable stars, the deep blue to near black sky, and the haunting, up-close sight of the moon's first quarter was, several hours of flight had eroded its luster of brilliance. Shad raised his drooped head abruptly and rubbed his sleepy eyes. Though it had only been for a second or two, he had nodded off again, something he fought from doing, what with his fear of falling off Link in his sleep.

Shad wanted to propose they rest again but Link seemed unwearied and doggedly pursued on toward the final destination only he knew. If Shad had to speculate from their direction and the forest terrain below, however, he was confident they had left Lanayru Province and were now in the thick of Faron.

_I say, it will not be long now,_ Shad told himself. _Either we will reach Link's target destination, we will rest, or some combination thereof will occur. Point remains that all I have to do is remain awake long enough and observe this through._

Shad hoped he could. Aside from the dull ache in his legs, nothing else—the cool night wind, the gentle warmth radiating from Link, the steady rocking from his flight—were conducive to staving Shad off from sleep. Right now, sleep seemed like a marvelous idea.

Or not.

Shad felt the warning surge of magic on his hands seconds before Link hit the barrier. White-green electricity arced across the temporarily visible shield and through Link, zapping Shad in the crossfire and effectively deterring any forward movement from there onward. The barrier ricocheted Link and Shad down to the forest below.

Leaves rustled and branches snapped, poked, and scratched as Shad fell through the trees. His right side and left ankle each bounced off a sturdy tree limb and the scholar just managed to curtail a string of curses that would have left a bulblin blushing. Link fell nearby, his descent making a terrible uproar and taking down a tree or two with him in the process.

His twisting, turning, damaging to the possibility of life threatening fall finally came to an end when Shad at last dropped and entangled in a cradle of thick green vines.

"All right..." Shad muttered, winded and disorientated. "…I'm awake."

He lay catching his breath and waited for his mind to return to some semblance of working order. If there was any assurance he could take in the moment, it was that at least this was not his first fall of the day. No, that was earlier when Link agreed to take a break and proved he could land as well as he could take off. In comparison, however, the meeting with the barrier made Link's atrocious crash feel like smashing onto a pillow.

Slowly, Shad raised his left leg, stirred his ankle in circles, and prayed nothing had been broken. So it seemed nothing had. His ankle and side were just sore and without a doubt discolored heavily with nasty contusions. Shad rested back in relief, reminding himself that his injuries could have been much more severe and was thankful they were not.

Managing to somewhat liberate himself from his bindings, he peered downward, trying to get a fair assessment of how far he was yet away from the ground, and discovered the thick woods at night were entirely shrouded in an inky blackness. Far as Shad perceived, he could be a foot or several, several more off the forest floor.

_Fair to declare I will be awaiting dawn's arrival to accurately and safely discern my location, permitting that Link does not come across me first._ Shad sighed. _…I say, I hope the old boy is unharmed. Between the pair of us, he certainly endured the rougher descent, or so I surmise._

Broad, arrowhead-shaped leaves spiraled and fluttered down, brushing Shad's face as he stared up through the trees at the few stars visible through the branches and worried. Concern piled on concern as he recalled the noise Link's fall made and his mind layered on worse and worse visions. At last he had to remind himself that Link was much more resilient than he and he survived mostly unhurt so Link was bound to be fine so no more winding himself into a fret…

Still he wished for some indication that Link was safe and sound. Or failing that that his thoughts focused elsewhere.

And Shad would have his distraction in the form of two tomato-sized orange-red eyes staring at him. He crawled away backwards, but his hand falling through a gap in the vines reminded him of how imprecisely high up he was. Recovering from his slip, Shad looked back in trepidation at the eyes, eyes that were luminous even in the darkness.

The leaves rustled without wind and layered underneath that sound, a buzzing noise not quite like a swarm of bees but not comparable to anything else. Beneath the eyes, a smile appeared and, to Shad's horror, stretched and stretched to an impossible length, revealing far too many teeth for the scholar's breathing to remain steady.

_I do not like this forest,_ Shad thought as he gave back a nervous, twitching smile. _I say, I do not like it at all!_

The hollow jangle of wooden sticks rattling accompanied the rustling leaves and invisible bees. The entirety of Shad's woodland surroundings felt alive and charged with a powerful energy. Magical? Perhaps, but not any sort of magic Shad's minor ability could pick up.

Shad's mind was half-dizzy due to hyperventilation and the whole circumstances he was in seemed dreamlike. The scholar hoped that this was in fact just a dream, however previous hopes and so-called awakenings told him that his recent nightmares were far from mere dreams these days.

It was several moments before the sound rose high enough to be plainly audible but through the cacophonous trio of leaves, bees, and hollow wood, Shad heard a child's soft whispering chanting inappropriately serene gibberish that promised anything but harmless child's play.

Shad had to control his breathing. If he did not, he would without a doubt lose consciousness and Shad did not trust his safety with the grinning face that was now clicking its teeth together in crisp bites.

_Calm yourself!_ Shad ordered himself. _It may be awfully disturbing and ominous but it has not done anything to you. Yet. And perhaps it will not. _The child's no-longer whispering and all too eager chanting rang in Shad's ears. The face, its teeth still clicking, drew closer to Shad. _…However, by the Goddesses, it does seem keen on munching on you._

_ Please, please, Link... If you are alive, make haste!_

The face was a mere inch or two away from Shad's. He closed his eyes and turned his head to the side. The sound of its breathing was the same as the sound crumbling dead leaves in one's hand made and felt just as dry. He heard another click of its teeth and then one more and then heard nothing. No leaves, no bees, no wood, nothing. The forest was silent. Gradually, as his reassurance of his safety grew, Shad peeked an eye open. The face was gone. Without a sound and without a trace.

Shad sat up and looked about, finding no orange-red eyes and toothy grins but instead finding a golden light blazing through the darkness. A light that proved to possess a familiar draconian form as Link raced into clearer view. He was glad to know his assumptions had been correct—Link had indeed suffered no harm.

Link slid to a stop just below Shad's net of vines. The constant glow his body produced illuminated the area just like a lantern and forced the scholar to briefly look away until his eyes readjusted.

"I am quite all right, old boy, relatively speaking," Shad said, feeling rather foolish to learn he had been barely away from the ground. This was an instance where his cautious nature hindered rather than helped him.

Link rose onto his hind legs and bit through the vines. As Shad slipped through the gap, he prepared himself for the rough landing only to feel the slide of Link's tail wrap around his waist, carry him to the side, and set him gently on his feet.

With a thank you and a quick inquiry into Link's health and confirmation he was fine, they headed off on their way, Shad a little slower than Link. Didn't take a full step before Link noticed Shad's limp.

"Ah, yes, that," he said, unconcerned. "Just sore is all. No worries."

Link made a short growl in his throat and nodded to his back.

"As much as I appreciate the offer," Shad said, annoyance creeping into his voice, "I will not have you carry me at every possible moment, especially for any and every ordinary hurt. I realize my physical skills will never equate to yours, I say, however I will not be mollycoddled unnecessarily. Thank you but I am fine. Just require a tad walking off is all."

Shad had not meant to speak so sternly, and perhaps the pain in his step factored into his shortness, but he had. Link had meant well and his kind concern was appreciated and maybe Link's gesture had harked back to Shad of an old, unresolved frustration when he was with the Group, but Shad did not require to be carried. He refused to be a load. When situations fell out of his realm of capability, then perhaps consideration would be taken, but outside those circumstances, he would stand on his own two feet. Or walk, in this case.

As the only one between the two of them who knew the way, Shad followed Link's lead through the woods. Though his travels through Faron Woods mostly consisted of boyhood research expeditions with his father presented as father-son camping trips to his mother, who believed his father should have discarded his childish fancies upon his son's birth and preferred Shad have a gentleman's education, not a yokel's, Shad did not recall ever being in this branch of the forest. However, Link seemed quite familiar with it so that was well enough for Shad.

They reached a moss and ivy-coated fallen archway and torches mounted on either side of the entrance sparked ablaze at their arrival. Shad was positive now he had never been in this part of the forest, never seen any sort of ruins as these and pulled out his father's journal and writing tools eagerly.

For only a first quarter moon above, these woods were unusually well lit in soft silver-blue moonlight. The white tree trunks and pale footpaths reflecting the light gave the woods an eerie, ghastly quality. It was a beautiful place, the forest overgrowing the ancient ruins, the natural world assuming its dominance over Hylian design, but there was something inherently uncanny to their surroundings. Difficult to believe absolute perfection could be a flaw but there it was before Shad.

"Rusl once explained to me he was investigating sources that hinted to a possible virgin grove deep within the thick of Faron Woods," Shad said, still drinking in the majesty of their setting. "I surmise this is it, right?"

Link nodded.

"And no doubt you assisted him in locating it, just as you assisted me in Kakariko Village."

Again, Link nodded.

_As I suspected, _Shad thought, his lips pursed shut as he considered, and then said, "Once you have reclaimed your true form, old boy, I believe we should have a little chat over what other wonders and secrets of Hyrule you have managed to unearth. …We'll have tea."

The scholar followed Link and jotted down quick notes and sketches. Shad noticed Link walked slower, for what he presumed was to ease on Shad and allow him to keep pace. He also stared up and searched the trees quite frequently for some inexplicable reason. Shad checked the trees himself but had not seen anything, however he did not possess a dragon's senses either. Most likely, it was nothing. Just Link being cautious.

_Except how often has the old boy ever been cautious? _Shad wondered. _I say, I know it is of my nature, however I have never been one to regard Link as particularly cautious. Not a trait one characterizes of a Hero…_

Shad shot a final wary glance back up to the trees and then went on with his notes.

"Do you have any sort of inkling what this place might have been?" Shad asked, only to receive a no from Link.

Shad did not know for certain either but if he had to speculate, he supposed this might have been the former Forest Temple from the Hero of Time's age. Of course, this was all purely in theory, all academic. Though he thought he recognized a marking from a book detailing a researcher's expedition to the Temple…

Still it would be hard press to definitively determine and prove whether or not this was formerly the Forest Temple.

Shad turned back to his notes only to discover his father's journal completely missing from his hand. The scholar searched frantically about. His mind reeled in his disbelief as how he could have lost the book when it had been in his very hands. He had not even felt it slip from his grasp. This was unfathomable. This was catastrophic. His alert eyes darted from point to point, scouring every inch for sign of his father's journal.

Link also looked but his pace was more concise, his stare more firm, as if he was tracking, not searching. With a slight bend in stance, Link made a deep growl to grab Shad's full attention.

Following Link's line of sight, Shad at last saw it, the orange-red eyes and too many teethed grin, only it wasn't just eyes and a mischievous smile anymore. It was a gray-skinned creature clothed mostly in brown, giving it the impression of an autumn sprite, what with the colors it wore, the holey state of its clothes, and the orange and green leaves it wore about its large, crooked hat. Except it wasn't an autumn sprite. No, research told Shad it was a Skull Kid. And it had his father's journal.

The Skull Kid stood on a low branch, the journal tucked underneath its arm. It had his ornamental dagger out from its place and jabbed the air in a mock swordfight.

It was a rather funny creature, except that Shad did not find the danger it posed to his father's journal funny at all. It would be a trial to regain his book and dagger. Skull Kids were not evil, however they were not good either. They followed their own whims, forever a child, therefore susceptible to the same ignorance and cruelty of children. Considered unpredictable, chaotic and perpetual tricksters, books always advised to steer clear of any interaction with them. Shad, however, did not possess that course of action anymore.

Its faux battle won, the Skull Kid tucked the dagger away and proceeded to examine the journal. And by examine, it meant that the Skull Kid held the book upside-down by its hardcover and swung its fanned out pages from side to side.

"Please, stop…" Shad said, his voice quavering with his body, as he took a single step toward the Skull Kid. "You have no idea how important that book is to me. Please, you may keep the dagger but please, _please_, return to me my book."

The Skull Kid stared at Shad and merely grinned with far too many teeth than there should ever be allowed in a smile. It was impossible to interpret what sort of smile it was or whether the Skull Kid had even understood Shad, though he suspected it had. Too well.

_Most merciful Goddesses, ever fair, wise, and powerful, please permit no harm to befall that journal…_ Shad prayed as the Skull Kid flipped back and forth through the pages once more, only this time in the proper manner.

The scholar raised a trembling hand up to his mouth and poised a fingernail between his teeth. Shad did not bite his nails. He merely placed his nails in the threat of being bit and worried.

The Skull Kid paused on a full-page sketch Shad did of an Oocca. Only drawings appeared to grab its attention and cause for a look, leading Shad to believe that the Skull Kid did not know how to read and to pity the young creature. Though he had the patience, if he had the time (and if the Skull Kid would behave and was a willing student), Shad would have been happy to teach it how.

Link growled at the Skull Kid, who only angled his stare toward him and continued on grinning naughtily, if not outright evilly, as it fingered through the journal. Link gave a series of barks and growls Shad could only hope were appealing to the Skull Kid's sense of reason and politely commanding it to return Shad's property.

A sense of reason Shad only wished it had and discovered it did not possess when he heard the first rip of a page. And then something inside Shad tore as well.

"You foul, despicable imp!" Shad shouted as the Skull Kid leapt off the branch and their chase began. "…Be cast back to the devil that spawned you!"

The pain in his ankle and side was immense, however Shad was not about to allow a pesky, trivial detail like that hinder him from reclaiming his father's journal. In blind pursuit of the Skull Kid, he was a young Hylian possessed by rage. Shad did not get angry. He felt its milder cousins—frustration and irritation—yes, but true anger he was disinclined to express, therefore he did not rage and did not know how to handle the feeling in the rare instance he did.

Over logs, between bushes, and up the peculiar stair-shaped hollowed trees, all around, over, and back again, Shad ran after the Skull Kid. From time to time, Shad would lose sight of the Skull Kid, only to have it pop out from the foliage or literally thin air and scare the wits out of him. The first time was an understandable fright. The fourteenth time, not so much.

Link was faster than Shad, not that it mattered. As soon as he came anywhere close to it, the Skull Kid vanished, leaving only a burst of leaves in its exit. Well, leaves and another torn out page of the journal. A stabbing pang of horror and revulsion shot through him as Shad scrambled to collect a page as it fluttered down toward water. There was no doubt about it now. The Skull Kid was an awful, vile creature. Shad renounced any desire to teach it how to read.

The Skull Kid was toying with him, both of them to be exact. They had chased it all across the forest to no luck and for who knew for how long. By now, Shad felt quite ill to his stomach as he clutched the six ripped pages of his father's journal to his chest. He was red-faced and winded. Plodding along as he could far behind Link in search of the blasted Skull Kid, he was exhausted. The impulsive rage that had guided his rush in the beginning had gave way to frustration and defeat.

His anger had also numbed some of his pain but as his clarity of mind returned so did the ache in folds. Unable to take another step, Shad sat down on a large tree stump. A moment to find his breath, he removed his boot and his argyle-patterned sock and examined his ankle. Just as he suspected, it was swollen and discolored a deep purple. The impact had left a contusion the size of a small fist on his ankle, and though he did not disrobe to inspect it, Shad suspected from his side's soreness that the contusion there was much greater.

There was a rustle in the bushes. Shad immediately tensed, thinking it was the Skull Kid preparing to terrorize him. He sighed in relief at the sight of Link padding toward him.

"Pardon me, old boy, however I am afraid I have exceeded my physical limitations at the present time," Shad said. "I presume no luck?"

Link nodded as he sat next to Shad and then instantly fixated and widened his eyes at his bruise. He looked at it, then at Shad, and made a questioning growl.

"I say, I told you it was nothing to worry about. It just twinges a bit is all, understandably given all the exertion it has endured," Shad said, smiling reassuringly. "Really, old boy, it looks worse than it is." Whether Link was convinced of that, it was impossible to tell.

Tired as well or simply giving him a break, Link laid down and wrapped the end of his tail gingerly around Shad's bruised ankle. The heat his body radiated was gentle and soothing. It would not heal him but it did make his ankle feel infinitely better.

Shad thought of his father's journal, no doubt forever lost to him in these woods. A knot curled in his stomach as he imagined its pages falling to the forest floor or rolling along caught in a breeze, no different than the leaves. Shad was upset. He reasoned to himself that of course he would be upset but it did not manage to lessen the wash of frustration, sadness, disappointment, and loss rushing through him.

Shad tipped his head upward, trying to hold back and obscure the tears misting his eyes from Link's view. No, he told himself not to cry in front of Link. He could not be certain he would understand the vast importance his father's journal meant to him and did not want to appear childish or anymore weaker than what the old boy most likely thought of him already. After all, Link would never cry over a book.

However, Link had probably never owned a book that was as much a valued resource as it was a final keepsake of a departed loved one's memory like Shad's father's journal was to him.

"I cannot calculate the hours and oil my father and then I burned acquiring and then recording notes and valued information in that sole journal. It is irreplaceable. So much time and effort lost in a wink, an instant of inattention—" Shad said before a hard corner made sudden, sharp, swift contact with the side of his head.

Wincing and biting back a swear, the scholar pressed his palm on the painful bump and turned to see what struck him. His father's journal, his dagger between its pages, lay on the ground. Shad immediately snatched it and pressed it protectively against his chest. A blasphemous thought or not, in that moment, Shad dared even a Goddess to try and rip his father's journal from his clutches.

_It happened once, but never again,_ Shad promised.

Hearing its unmistakable laugh, he looked to the trees to find the ever-grinning Skull Kid dancing. "Let's play again," was all it said and vanished with one last 'tee hee' in a burst of leaves.

"Preferably never," Shad muttered, his tone contrasting with his smile as he gazed back onto his father's journal.

Torn pages aside, there did not seem to be much damage to the book, though ripping out pages was about the worst that could have been done. _At least, the little monster did not break its spine_, Shad thought. _It possessed the minimum courtesy to not do that, unlike some so-called cultured Hylians I have been briefly acquainted with. _

A few moments to place the removed pages and the dagger back where they individually belonged (and to, well, privately mourn the violation of his most personal property), Shad quickly deposited and secured his father's journal inside the hopeful safety of his rucksack.

"Well, that atrocious travesty of a distraction is over and done with," Shad smiled at Link. "Shall we proceed and venture on with your plan? Myself, I am eager to learn what has been locked in your head this entire little escapade of ours."

They both rose to standing. Link's heat had done marvels for Shad's ankle. It unquestionably did not hurt as much when he walked on it, though Link had still offered to carry Shad. The scholar wanted to get irritated but found it difficult. After all, when someone was well meaning, considerate, and generously offered another help, it was sort of difficult respond to that with anger, mild anger as it would be.

"Please, old boy, do not require me to repeat myself," Shad said, still smiling, as he laid a hand on the top of Link's head, the feather flames of his frill engulfing his hand in cozy sunlight. "Thanks to you, I am feeling much better. I will walk."

After all, he was determined to do so and so it would be done.

-o-

So things hadn't turned out as easy as Link thought it would. He had thought what with having wings, he would fly over, swoop down, and land in the Sacred Grove as simply and uncomplicated as if he teleported through the old Twili portal formerly above it. Too bad he didn't know about the barrier around the grove or that Midna's portal bypassed through it. Made sense after Link thought about it—was it really that unexpected that a place known as sacred would have magical defenses? Of course, the Master Sword wouldn't be solely protected by the Skull Kid.

Well, forethought wasn't his strongest suit. That seemed more like Shad's match. Link had always been more of a thinker of the present, coming up with whatever in the moment seemed right and going on with that, unless that failed then he went with the next logical choice and so on.

Still the Goddesses or any instrument of fate could have given him a warning about the barrier. He would have liked avoiding getting unnecessarily shocked and dropping like a Goron through the trees. And Shad wouldn't have gotten hurt either. The Goddesses were either watching over him then or the scholar was far luckier than he credited himself. Link was amazed to find out the scholar wasn't no more worse off than a badly bruised ankle, though Link suspected that wasn't all of his injuries—he could smell pain underlying his scent.

_If I could find him some hearts or a red potion seller, that would help_, Link considered, recalling that there was an odd bird nearby that sold red potion. _But a fairy would instantly heal him. _Link sniffed the air, trying to capture the wispy, sweet scent of a fairy but found nothing.

_I can always find fairies at the spirit springs, _he reminded himself. _Not sure if I want to show up at one though._ Seemed to Link like he would be walking into a trap. To catch a fox that had been killing the cucco, Rusl had made a simple wooden cage, placed food in it, and rigged it so the door would shut after it entered. Link imagined the Light Spirits doing about the same, only instead raising a barrier to lock him in and using the fairies as bait. Not sure if the Spirits would try a trick like that, but even so, Link was smarter than that and realized it wasn't even worth the risk to chance it.

Link laid on his stomach, enjoying the cool, dewy grass against his warm body (and resisted the urge to roll around it in) as he waited while Shad recorded the details of the Sacred Grove in his father's journal. With his sharper eyesight, he could see he was making a sketch of the Door of Time. Link smiled inwardly as he pictured Shad's reaction to if he knew what was behind that door. He considered telling him but then remembered his new form was strictly nonverbal and he wasn't quite sure how to act an explanation like that out. Link faked a sigh. That would just have to be a story for another day.

Shad thanked him for his patience, saying his studies were delaying Link's plans and retransformation. But Link didn't mind to wait. There was no big rush for him to return to normal, he felt, and there were some interesting perks to being a dragon, so if the scholar wanted to take a few minutes for exploration, that was okay with Link.

And when all the strange and wondrous things were noted, they headed toward the short ledge leading down to the rest of the grove. The ledge was easy enough for Link in any form to jump off but Shad would take a more delicate approach down. As they prepared to move on, Shad reminded Link that he was still capable of sliding himself down but Link didn't give him the time to protest and simply wrapped his tail around his waist, hoisted him up, and leapt down.

At last, they entered the inner grove and there was the Master Sword. Moonlight seemed to both be absorbed and reflected by the sword, its blade glowing an icy silver-blue.

"Ah, your sword!" Shad said. "I say, I believe I understand your plan now."

Coming for the Master Sword had been Link's first idea and the most logical to him. After all, the Master Sword would never allow evil to exist in its presence. Whatever curse was inside him, the sword would vanquish and Link would be restored to normal, just as with Zant's curse. It was that simple.

Link slowly approached the Master Sword's pedestal. He gave his final goodbyes to temporarily being a dragon, admitted that it had been fun but it was time he be himself again, and readied himself to endure a little bit of pain as his body reformed and resumed his Hylian self. Link shut his eyes.

And nothing happened.

Link stepped closer to the sword and still nothing happened.

He wrapped his tail around the hilt and pulled the sword out from its pedestal and nothing happened. In his disbelief, he dropped the Master Sword. The blade made a strident, abrasive clang as it hit the ground. Link stared down at the unresponsive sword, his flowing tail feathers lying still and flat.

Shad crouched down beside him. "As an integral component in your plan, I surmise something was supposed to happen."

_It was supposed to. It worked the last time. Why doesn't it now? _Link wondered as he laid down onto his stomach, laid his head down on the ground, and stared dejectedly at the Master Sword. This had been his one serious idea and he truly thought it was going to work. Now, he had nothing. Sure, he liked being a dragon, but that was back when he thought he was going to be changed back relatively soon. He could be a dragon forever. What if he was?

He could never go back to Ordon Village. He could never see his friends again. He could never see Ilia. They could never make up from their fighting, which seemed so stupid now.

_We both said some awful things. And now we'll never get to apolog_ize. Link made a quiet, airy whine.

"Cheer up, old boy. You gave it a good try. This just happens to be the wrong approach," Link peered up at Shad's hopeful smile as the scholar laid his hand on his head, "However do not worry. We will uncover the proper course to restoring you to yourself. If there is anything my life's work and our journey so far has taught me is that there are plenty of secrets our world has left to offer us."

Shad was right, of course. This couldn't be their only option. Link wouldn't be a dragon forever, not if he kept searching for a way back. He would only remain a dragon if he gave up and Link never gave up.

Link stood, feeling his glow brighten back in his body and smile, and nudged Shad's shoulder with his snout as his equivalent to a pat in thanks.

"And in the meantime," Shad said, "we will bring this along."

The moment his fingers touched the Master Sword, the silver-blue glow of its blade pulsated ominously. An arc of electricity zapped Shad's hand, forcing the scholar, shouting in pain, to retract his hand immediately.

"S-Should have thought as much," Shad said, working his fingers out from their spilt-second paralysis. "Clearly, your sword wishes nothing to do with me. Reasonable of it, I suppose, to desire someone with the capability and heart to wield it. Absolutely that is someone not like me."

Shad held the scabbard as Link slipped the sword inside. He secured the sword to his rucksack, making second and third checks to make sure the sword was tied properly.

"My only fear with traveling with this," Shad said as he put back on the sack, flashing the Master Sword a wary glimpse over his shoulder, as he followed Link, preparing to head out of the Sacred Grove once they were free of the barrier," is the back of my head somehow hitting the hilt and getting accidentally zapped again. It would be my luck, old boy."


	7. Chapter 7

Story Title: Our Wind Will Shake the Earth and Stars

Disclaimer: Nope, don't own Twilight Princess. …Yet.

Author's Notes: Thanks to Shirosenshi Kisetsu 116, mysticalgems, Kit, Love This, fujioka44, tennants-tenant, Anon266, link-lover82, and rowen raven for reviewing.

Since I've been asked a few times already, I feel that I must explain that there won't be any lemons until _very_ much later in this story. This story is quite long and there's much development needed in both Link and Shad before any lemons can occur. Please be patient with me. It will happen, though not anytime soon. There's still quite a bit of pesky plot and non-sexy story bits that needs to happen yet. Tends to come with the whole epic adventure package.

And, specifically to Kit (since I cannot PM you), I agree completely with your review to "Spectacles". I knew Link's characterization was off even while writing it and it irked me that I knew but I went with it because that fic was for kicks so I didn't take the story seriously like I would for "Wind". I agree that he would be more chaste and in fact, that was my exact thought while writing the fic, should've obeyed my instinct, I guess. Personally, I consider his strange characterization a mistake but I learn from my mistakes. Thank you for giving your honest opinion. I can assure you he'll be more in character here when we get to that point.

Ah, sorry for the long note and the review response (to a different story, nonetheless). High probability that won't happen again. So I'll leave readers to the story. Thanks for reading.

-o-

Chapter Seven: The Whistle in the Wind

-o-

_I say, the problem with mysteries is their mystery, _Shad thought as Link ascended into the gray morning sky._ How ever will we uncover a solution if we posses no clue to its whereabouts? How do we go about discovering that which has never been discovered or even investigated before?_

Shad remembered asking his father the very same questions pertaining to the existence of the sky beings and their City. He could picture himself as a small boy again inquiring his father and his seemingly vast knowledge of the universe once more for the answers to these very vexing problems only to receive a hearty laugh, a spirited tousle of his hair, and the same words every time, "That, my duckling, is what makes our work worthwhile."

He could hardly disagree with that, Shad had to admit. Still the smallest, infinitesimal point in the right direction would shave off loads of weight from the scholar's shoulders. It would refine his search and narrow his thought pattern, which was currently casting and stringing along possibilities, plausible and improbable, one after another but none striking brilliance.

_Even after a good night's rest, we failed to produce a definite lead this morning. I say, even Link is at a loss for ideas and the old boy appears to know the obscurities of Hyrule better than I_._ Straws are all we possess to grasp I am afraid._

Actually, Shad was not all that sure on the good night's rest part. After visiting a strange, entrepreneurial bird and purchasing from it a bottle of red potion—well, Link had panicked the wits out of it so it was only proper—he and Link had camped the rest of the night in Faron Woods. Not expecting Link's discovery to lead into a lengthy expedition therefore not packing for one, Shad did not have any of his typical camping gear. Not that any setup of the sort was needed. Shad was out not a minute after he laid down.

As for Link, Shad was not entirely positive the old boy had slept. It always seemed to Shad from accounts of Link's heroics that rest was not at all at the young hero's forefront. And indeed, Link always seemed like he could go on forever, except he was still Hylian, right? While Link's physical condition was exceptional to most Hylians—certainly was far better than Shad's own—his mind and body still harbored some of the natural inevitable limitations, right?

Shad hoped so. Otherwise, the best theory on how Link saved the world without rest was Goddess-induced insomnia and compulsion and that notion brought forth the disconcerting image of the Goddesses riding him like a horse, cracking reins and ordering him on to hurry faster, ever faster, even through his much-needed want of a bed.

And Shad would rather not picture the blessed Goddesses in such a domineering light…

No other information guiding them elsewhere, Link and Shad decided they would head back to the City in the Sky in hopes of deducing some other options (and hopefully not incite any new try on their lives) and, with a miracle, manage to gain assistance from the Oocca's remaining splash of water that was their collective pool of knowledge.

He had worried about the strain on his badly bruised side during Link's flight but Shad had discovered this morning that the red potion had not only eliminated his pain and tenderness but also cleared up most of his discoloration. Aside from a small residual patch of purple on his side, both his ankle and side were healed.

Even though it would take most of the daytime to backtrack to the City, both Link and Shad had concurred it was better if they bypassed the cannon and simply flew there. Also, there was a high likelihood now of Link's dragon body not fitting inside it and Shad would rather be damned a fool before he trapped himself that dreadful cannon alone. The loss of time might have been a nuisance, however it was much preferred.

It was late into the afternoon and marking into the early evening when the white-gray egg buildings of the Oocca at last floated into view. And most distressing so did the sight of the Light Spirit Lanayru coiling around a bridge, crushing it, and incinerating the rubble, leaving nothing to fall from its destruction.

Shad mouthed words of grief as his eyes transfixed in shock at the upheaval and ruin of the City in the Sky. All of it, every hole, every fallen column, every scattered remain was his fault, he repeated to himself, for ever summoning the Light Spirits in the first place. Bit by bit, the Spirits were destroying the City. And Shad was positive their slow, meticulous obliteration had nothing to do with necessity and all in fulfilling their personal whim. And it was all his fault.

"So the Spirits have not dispersed of their own accord," Shad said, his voice soft and heavy with regret, as he and Link watched through a recently blasted and vanished ceiling the immense blaze of light that could only be Ordona charging across the room. "I pray for the safety of the _sky—_"

Link rushed off. Shad dove forward and clasped his grip around Link's neck. Much as it irritated him to be given no warning, Shad had other pressing issues on his mind. Like the fact Link was barreling headlong toward the City in the Sky. Where the Light Spirits were. The Light Spirits that were fervent about killing them and nearly succeeded on their first opportunity.

Shad was quite against allowing them a second.

"Link, stop! What in blazes are you doing?" Shad shouted, straining to be heard. "Have you lost your blasted mind? I say, _stop_!"

Shad's shouts were to no avail. Link hurried toward the City for only a reason he knew. The scholar hoped it was a worthy one because they were quite rapidly flying to their death if the Light Spirits noticed them.

_Heroes rush straight ahead where scholars fear to tread, _Shad groaned. _The differences between us. _

…_Still I always held a belief that Link was impulsive but not stupid, that even he recognized his limitations and knew when to heed caution and logic. In light of these new circumstances, however, I may have to reevaluate my previous assessment of him._

"Link!" Shad appealed one last time, partially praying to Nayru to impart Link a spark of sound wisdom. "For the love of all that is rational thought, retreat!"

Link soared across a quarter section of the City. Shad scanned wildly about for the Light Spirits. They were far enough away and behind a distracted Lanayru to fly past the serpent and the steady winds blowing by obscured the sound of their flight. Ordona was similarly preoccupied. Which left Faron and Eldin. Shad had no clue where they were and as such they were the Spirits that troubled him the most. And while the scholar would never count out Faron as a danger, between the pair of them, Eldin could fly.

Shad heard his heartbeat pumping in his ears as he prayed Link's survey of the destroyed City ceased soon enough. And then a bolt of concentrated light shot diagonally down from the sky and cracked the roof of the central building. From there, the clouds burned away revealing first a talon and slowly began to uncover the rest of the hawk spirit's massive body. Shad was about to strongly urge they leave now but Link had apparently came to that agreement. Diving straight down, Link plunged into the cloud cover.

The scholar could at last release his held breath and exhale a sigh of relief once he was convinced that Eldin had not seen them and was not in pursuit. His fear gave way to his irritation and to that sparked a lecture. If they were not miles and miles above the ground and Link did not still lack flight control, Shad would have began his lecture immediately. However, Shad quite did not wish to plunge from this elevation in the sky so he held his tongue. For now.

The rocky northern plains of Hyrule Field grew larger and larger as Link prepared his second attempt at landing. Shad closed his eyes and braced for impact.

The crash jerked Shad forward but his grip around Link's neck held rather well. And Link had learned how to slow his descent somewhat, though his landing was far from graceful yet. But all in all, he had done better. If the kinds of injuries his last landing could have caused worst to worst were broken bones, this one would only have managed to severely scrape one's skin off. Progress.

Shad staggered a bit as he stood but as soon as he shook off the wobbles from the landing, he turned to Link and said sternly, "What in Farore's green fields were you thinking pulling off such a reckless stunt? You are a hero, yes, and you are brave—"

He knew he was upset but he had not realized he was this upset. Believing his anger to be reasonable, Shad went on with his lecture, "_However_ that does not justify placing both our lives in danger! I say, did it ever occur to you that it might be _extremely_ _idiotic_ to race headlong toward the very monsters trying to kill you? And for what? What was the purpose of that indubitably foolish exploit of yours? That is something I would like to know, thank you very much!"

Link had his head bowed but not in shame. In fact, the scholar wondered if he was even listening to him. Link seemed to be intently looking around for something. That something apparently being a stick as he grabbed one between his teeth and drew in the dust what in the end was a rough drawing of an Oocca.

"So you saw the Oocca." Most of Shad's anger had burned itself out and been replaced by curiosity, though his tone remained stern. "What of them?"

Link drew a horizontal line above the Oocca and then several vertical ones from the horizontal. It took a moment before Shad understood.

"They were imprisoned?" Shad said, now quite concerned. Link affirmed his words with a nod.

"I understand now. You observed they were in danger and you wanted to assist them, wanted to see if they could be rescued." Shad laid a hand on Link's forehead, "I apologize for my outburst. Your senses are far superior to mine. If I had observed what you had, I would have attempted to save the Oocca at any possibility as well, though most likely to less successful measures."

Link tipped his head to the side and gave a rumble in his throat that equated to a shrug of his shoulders and saying, "No harm done" to Shad.

As Link headed off to survey their surroundings, Shad looked worried up into the sky as he murmured a brief prayer for the Oocca's safety and followed after Link.

-o-

So their options were even fewer than what they had originally believed. Sitting by the fire outside the small cave that was their campsite for the night, Shad contemplated, deliberated, and perused through all his knowledge of Hyrule to no avail. There was nowhere else they could go. He had asked Link but he did not possess any more viable ideas than Shad. When inquired of his opinion on petitioning Queen Zelda's aid, Link gave an uncertain nod as to whether she could assist them but he did not want to rule her out. So far, she seemed their only choice.

However, since it would be another two hours of flight before they would reach Hyrule Castle and the time of their final arrival would be very late into the night, they thought it wiser to get what little rest they could, wake bright and early, and pray the sight of a dragon flying toward the castle did not alarm the Hyrule royal guards—more specifically the guards in control of the cannons—too much.

His father's journal open and resting on his lap, Shad thumbed through the notes he made in the Messenger's Library in hopes of an epiphany coming to him. As it was, the only thought running through his mind was of his father reminding him that 'the presence of light also creates a shadow—no action can be made without also inadvertently producing its opposite'.

Shad wondered what actions were going to be required to reverse the magic on Link and then what sort of feats would then have to be undertaken to restore the Oocca's true forms and their memories. Both seemed so daunting, so impossible at this point.

But so had verifying the existence of the sky beings and the City in the Sky at one point in his life.

Link came back carrying a pair of dead Lanayru twin-tailed rabbits in his mouth. He dropped them on the ground and nudged one by the snout toward Shad.

While he appreciated the gesture, Shad's knowledge and experience with skinning animals was limited to hiding himself in the tent on camping trips or in his room covering his eyes and ears until his father finished the job, cleaned up, and thoroughly had the poor beast of the evening roasting on the fire or in the stew pot or what have it. Shad had no doubt Link was accustomed and skilled in the practice and under different circumstances (or if dragons had opposable thumbs) he would have taken care of the job already. But Shad did not know how.

It was difficult to phrase his words and it ached him to appear like he was snubbing Link's generosity and effort but he politely declined the rabbit. Hoping Link's greater hearing did not catch his stomach growl, Shad promised himself to rely on his fairly extensive knowledge of the local flora to sustain himself.

Link was not offended, or he appeared not, as he laid down, anchored his claws into one of the pitiful creatures, and sunk his sharp teeth in for his first bite.

Shad ordered himself to think and not look, to keep his eyes either on his book or averted to the other side. It had to be one or the other. Because if he turned and saw Link eating the recently-living-but-not-anymore rabbit raw little by little, he knew he was going to be sick.

_Well, he is a dragon,_ Shad reminded himself until he decided that, no, not even being a dragon can excuse oneself from proper table manners.

_The unfortunate side effects of having a vivid imagination, _Shad thought as he heard the squishy, squelchy noises, _is that, with the proper stimuli, one can picture one's surroundings all too well._

He tried to ignore it, all of it. He tried to focus on the Oocca's plight or speculated on how might they transform Link back but soon he tried not to think about Link at all because any thought of him reminded him that he was eating a rabbit right beside him. And then there was a sound that could only have been crunched bones, followed by yet more wet, slurpy noises.

Shad soon realized all his thoughts had gone rather fuzzy, that his head felt like it was caught in Ooccoo Jr.'s magic and also like most of his blood had drained from his face, and a whirlpool of nausea churned in his stomach.

The scholar also realized that this was probably one of exactly two times he had ever ran away and left someone without properly excusing himself. However it was not as if he had time to excuse himself and Shad had not been certain that words would have came out of his mouth first if he had tried.

Once the dry heaves subsided, Shad did murmur an apology to whatever sort of creature that lived in the hole for rudely getting sick all over its entranceway.

When the last of his shakes and queasiness settled, Shad stood up and plodded up the hill, hoping the night air would benefit him in mind and body greatly. He stared at the twinkling white stars above him and wondered if there really was any truth in what the histrionic fortuneteller had told him—that all his stars were in disarray and that misfortune was forever bound to follow him.

Of course, he had been just a boy when she had made this prediction and that had been after Shad denounced her craft as superstition and explained to the other Castle Town children crowding around her that she wasn't seeing the future, that she was only telling them what they wanted to hear, and that she only wanted to hoodwink them out of their allowances. And then she made her awful prediction. And then the other kids chased and beat Shad up.

_At times, however, it does appear I possess the worst luck in life, I say,_ Shad sighed in the darkness. _Never the leader, always the follower in my own research. Bullied as a boy for being too mature and yet now that I am nearly an adult, I am treated like a child in the face of important world-rescuing matters. Further along Link and I get into this mess, the further I complicate matters and I possess not a clue of how to go about fixing anything, though I am positive that if I did, I would only cause more harm._

_ After all, what chance do I possess of being any use in all this? Link is the hero. I am just a redundant scholar. One who cannot even maintain hold of the liquid remnants of his breakfast at the slightest indication of ickiness._

_ "_Forgive me, Father," Shad murmured into the night. "You had hopes of raising a son and scholar who would revolutionize Hyrule's history with his brilliance and discoveries of the Oocca and instead the Goddesses bequeathed you with me. Terribly sorry."

It soon became apparent to Shad that he had meandered quite a ways from the campsite. Far as his memory told him it was a straight line back, however it was quite dark and there were only stars above to light his path and Shad was aware of the creatures that resided in the rocky plains. He thought it best if he made his way back.

Though it was not going to be the road he originally took that he discovered fairly swiftly. Not a quarter of the return in and Shad found himself face to ax tail with a lizalfos. He inched himself back as the still-unawares lizalfos scoped its surroundings. Shad assessed his options. He could try another route and hoped it led him somewhere not too far from the campsite. He could wait until the lizalfos passed and stay on his original course. And for a third option…

There was a third option. There really had been. Was not a bad idea in the least. However as the scholar heard the specific low growl and sudden rush and realized he was his unprotected tail to face with a second lizalfos, that third option was rapidly replaced by Shad's self-preservation impulse.

Staggering out of one lizalfos's stab, he provoked the other. The reptilian soldier joined its cohort and, in its odd hopping battle step, sized up its much weaker enemy. In the creature's characteristic fashion, one became the main assailant, the other hung back in reserve at the ready to jump in immediately when the other was far too injured. Really was a smart strategy and noble of it for having one always guarding the other.

And then, as he sidestepped a slash and the lizalfos's scimitar-like blade broke through the wooden fencing lining the road's edge, Shad realized he was a very strange young man for finding commendation for his attackers.

While the road was just wide enough for Telma's supply and impromptu medical wagon to pass through, the road was still not wide enough to allow Shad to make an escape dash past the waiting lizalfos. Best tactic to survive for Shad was keeping his distance, scurry around, and pray his bad luck was not the end of him. Oh and shout for Link, even though he knew what a cowardly thing it was to do.

But the truth was the scholar's stamina was not about to outlast the lizalfos' attention span and there was more likelihood of Shad at last convincing Ashei that belching was not a successful counterpoint to any argument than of the scholar taking down two lizalfos bare-handed, so calling for Link's assistance was the best idea. Weak-willed of him but the best. He was out of his realm of capability after all.

_Because there is no such thing as a noncombatant warrior,_ Shad thought, back flat against the rocky hillside as he watched the lizalfos and waited to know which side to turn to. _There are only those who fight and those who do not fight and, I say, I am most certainly in the category of the latter._

Dodging to the left, Shad stumbled and fell into an awkward headfirst roll. Well, more like a half-roll really. His trembling hands braced against the ground, Shad, white as a cucco, sat staring saucer-eyed at the lizalfos as it prepared to whip its ax-handled tail and slice straight across his waistcoat, good for taking off a chill but not so great at taking ax strikes.

Only the lizalfos did not swing its tail. Not for lack of trying and boy, did it try but Link would not let it. Standing on the knocked down waiting lizalfos, Link held the attacking lizalfos's tail in his bite. Looking over its shoulder, the lizalfos jerked its tail in an attempt to free it and continue its assault but Link held on and dragged the bipedal lizard backwards, the surprise in its growl audible, more so as he tossed it up and then slammed it against the rocky hillside.

Link stood crouched between Shad and the waiting lizalfos as it rose onto its clawed feet and readied its blade. Its stab was weak and more of show of its size and aggression than a true attack. The intimidation tactic failed. Link tackled the lizalfos again, only this time sending it onto its back, and chomped down on its neck. Once. Twice. And several more times.

While Link was occupied, the briefly unconscious lizalfos stirred, shook its head, found its bearings, and was ready to reenter the fray. Ignoring the strangled growls of its dying cohort, the lizalfos focused on a different target, namely Shad.

It rushed at him, forcing the scholar to quickly step backwards. The lizalfos had a much too sinister grin as Shad found the edge of the road. Swinging its ax tail around, Shad bent back and the edge crumbled under his foot and the off-balance sent the scholar falling through the broken fencing. His last sight of the lizalfos was of Link ramming into it, his last sound a crushed growl as it met the same end as the other lizalfos.

Shad could be thankful he was not dropping into a dark ravine to an assured death. He was lucky in that sense. Of course since he was tumbling down a rocky hill, he was not that fortunate. He stifled shouts of pain as rocks poked, pierced, and shattered against his body. The hillside consisted of shale, which broke easily but still had some jagged points when one landed on them just right and Shad often did.

Shad raised his arms and protected his face, specifically his spectacles. He neither had his spare nor did he want a rogue shale shard to shatter his lenses and leave him with eyes full of glass. Tumble after tumble, Shad saw and knew little of what was going on around him. Occasionally he would catch a clear glimpse of a star before falling back into a blurry spin. At last, the rolling ceased, his disorientation progressed to reorientation, and he found himself in a small valley at the foot of the hillside. A quick health check, he discovered nothing damaged beyond some soreness and a few scratches.

Link slid down the hill soon after, making a sound similar to the rush of a sudden downpour and quite a shale avalanche in his wake. He came to a stop right in front of him and very soon Shad was face to snout with a quite concerned dragon. He laid a hand reassuringly on his snout, avoiding in touch and sight of the spots of rabbit-lizalfos blood around his mouth.

"I am all right, old boy. Really, I am," Shad said as Link, happy to see him all right, pushed his hand further up along his muzzle. "Sorry to have worried you. Thank you. For coming. I meandered farther than intended, I suppose."

_Quite an error of judgment on my part there,_ Shad thought, head bowed. _After all, there is a world of difference leaving oneself to one's thoughts wandering Castle Town versus the open wilds. Rarely have I ever wandered at night during my own expeditions, though when one is already alone at camp there is no need to seek solitude._

"We should head back, should we not?" Shad said as he rose onto one knee and prepared to stand. Except when he placed any sort of weight on his knee, the ground cracked and his foot fell through. Shad and Link looked at his leg and then quickly at each other before the earth gave way.

As he crashed and lay on a massive pile of rocks, Shad hoped the many cracking sounds around him and Link was more shale breaking and rustling and not their bones. His chest hurt and the air was knocked out of him but all in all, not many additional injuries from before.

Shad sat up, his back aching and popping as if he had traded spines from perpetually stooped over, elderly Doctor Borville. Gazing about with the help of Link's ever-constant light, he could see they had fallen into what was not so much a cave than just a hollow hole in the earth. He could hear vents like those about Death Mountain blowing streams of hot air around them.

"Our weights combined with the additional shale and its vibrations must have placed a great enough strain to instigate the rock to fracture," Shad said, peering up, "I say, and to no wonder! The ceiling, if you could call it that, is comprised of large slabs of the same shale. Why, everything could easily collapse upon us with the slightest break."

And then the thought caught up with his reason," …Oh, dear. Link, if you are unharmed, I believe we should make our exit post haste." Shad turned to him and saw Link just sitting staring vacantly into the earth. He did not seem like he had heard him. His attention seemed miles away.

"Link? Something the matter, old boy? Link?" Shad called. To no avail.

Link did not respond, even when Shad gave him a gentle nudge. He was not ignoring him. It was more like Link's mind was no longer within his body. Shad wondered how it was possible. Nothing particularly strange had happened. Nothing that would explain Link's odd catatonic state. And then Shad heard it.

It was faint, barely audible to Shad but no doubt perceptible to Link's better ears. The vents blew against a bizarre rock formation shaped like panpipes and from it produced a light whistle. The simple three-note tune sounded and faded with the flow of air.

_Unless crafted by the Goddesses themselves, nothing in nature would ever geologically form rocks in such a distinct manner, _Shad thought as he looked about their surroundings, seeing only rocks and more rocks. _What sort of place was this?_

A short slide down the pile of shale, Link approached the whistling rocks and sat down in front of them. Happy to see his movement returned but very much still concerned for his lack of reply, Shad tried calling him once more. No response. To him, at least.

Link raised his head and sang back. It was a peculiar thing to do in the first place, in Shad's opinion, however coupled with the fact his pitch was higher than one would expect for a dragon—really, he sang more like a sweet heavenly bird than with his usual gruff dragon growls—it was truly an odd scene to behold. Odd but beautiful. Yet another sound he had never heard before and was unlikely to ever again.

The three-note melody sung and repeated, Link's voice hung in the air and reverberated a while before the earth finally went silent. And the rocks began to move. The pile of stones scattered in the vicinity of the vents began to gather and reassemble themselves. Rock clacked against and grated on rock, making horrendous raspy noises, as glowing red lava bound the stones together and filled the many arching cracks across the statue. A statue that appeared to depict the mythical ancestor to the ancient furnix, namely the phoenix.

At last, Link was returned to himself, his mind freed from its mystical captivity. He looked to Shad and smiled eagerly, though he did not appear to know what was going on but looked hopeful since it was something new. Shad was equally as uncertain about the unfolding events but nonetheless was excited to observe the statue and deduce its importance.

Only magic could have crafted such a magnificent statue. Shad watched in awe of its fine construction and grinned unabashedly in his glee. The way the rocks shifted and swayed in the flow of lava gave the impression there was a real phoenix perched before them. The statue tilted its head and blinked. It shifted its feet and its talons clacked against the stone. It gave a stretch of its wings. It even opened its beak and readied itself to sing.

No, no, sing it did not. Not a note. It shot a fireball. Shad swiftly stumbled out of the way. He watched as the blaze spiraled through the air and hit the opposite wall. The fireball burst upon contact and numerous fiery lines raced and curved across the solid stone. As the final lines came together and the pyrograph blazed complete, the phoenix statue collapsed back to a pile of rocks.

With much anticipation, Shad quickly proceed closer to the burning image. "Old boy, if I am not mistaken, does this not appear to be the Messenger's Chamber? Look here sharp!" Shad said, pointing but remaining mindful of the flames, "This is the altar and the golden rod and there are what appears to be wings and rays of what I assume to be light extending from the rod. I say, does this not resemble nigh exactly to the avian figure of the Hylian crest?"

Why, yes, it very much did, Shad was certain. What a marvelous discovery this was! Shad had so many questions, so much curiosity and eagerness to learn. What did this mean? Did the Hylian crest originate from the Oocca? How much more hiding-in-plain-sight influence did the Oocca bear on Hylian culture? Shad felt quite giddyheaded at the vast wonder and possibility of discovery. He wanted to know!

"It is unfortunate most of the Sky Writing is unintelligible. I can only decipher two words, feathers and glory," Shad said before falling into a contemplative pose, one hand cupping his elbow, the other holding his chin.

_Every answer bears more questions and is rarely the one you were searching for, _Shad thought. _Well, I suppose we now know a possible means, however there is no location, no direction to rush into, no explanation…_

Shad sighed. _Ever the tree branches outward but never can we taste its fruit._

"Well, if I am positive of anything, it is that my intuition tells me that these will be the key to restoring the Oocca no doubt," Shad met Link's gaze and smiled softly. "I say, we must locate and gather these Feathers of Glory."

Shad and Link studied the flaming image, with Shad doing much speculating aloud but due to his verbal limitations could only get an agreeing or disagreeing nod from Link, until at last it smoldered and sputtered out. Noting throughout his study at how Link stared repeatedly up at fragile ceiling, Shad thought it better if they left posthaste.

Rising into the brisk night air—though Link produced plenty enough heat and their flight back to their camp would be short anyway, Shad was uncertain if he would find any rest tonight. One question after another was rushing through his mind, ideas and possibilities cast and striking wonder and interest. How could he find sleep when such thoughts as wondering what these Feathers of Glory looked like or might be located were demanding to be answered?

Shad just hoped he did not annoy Link too badly with his incessant speculation.


	8. Chapter 8

Story Title: Our Wind Will Shake the Earth and Stars

Disclaimer: My motion to obtain the rights to TP has been denied. Miyamoto has foiled me again…

Author's Notes: Ever thanks to mysticalgems, rowen raven, Kitade, link-lover82, and Rei Uchiha339 for reviewing. It's been much too long of a wait, I know, but with "Snowdrops" complete, the rotation between "Angels" and "Wind" updates should be faster.

Okay so this chapter is completely different than what I had planned for it but the story made it nigh impossible to avoid so that was that. Actually many changes happened to my outline because of this chapter. Luckily, I think it works better. Oh and we have a new viewpoint character.

Also forgive me for all travesties committed by my pathetic attempt at poetry. What little poetry I have ever done has been goofy things and I am hardly at the caliber required to execute the poetry I wanted as I intended properly. The poem isn't great but it works.

As always, thanks for reading.

-o-

Chapter Eight: A Queen and Her Audience

-o-

After Link woke up, had his breakfast, and came back to find Shad still sleeping, the Hero-turned-dragon had an idea. A very naughty idea. It wasn't a very nice thing to do but it was rather innocent when placed in its proper ranking within a full list of naughty ideas. He knew Shad would be very annoyed with him when he did it but he would calm down afterwards eventually.

And, well, it was getting to be time for the scholar to wake up. After all, they needed to be heading to Hyrule Castle to see if Zelda could help them in changing him back and also now to learn what they could about the Feathers of Glory. Their flight would take a few hours and, if they wanted to arrive at a reasonable time, they needed to be up and out soon.

So really, his idea was less so much naughty than mere necessity.

Link stood beside Shad and stared at him as he slept. He had hoped the presence of his piercing eyes would snap him awake but it seemed that the scholar was as difficult to wake in the morning as he was. Or was it that he was still tired from spending half the night thinking and talking about the Feathers of Glory? Either way, it was going to take more than a stare to wake him.

Link leaned in closer and snorted a puff of air over his face. The curl of hair on his forehead fluttered and Shad squeezed his closed eyes tighter in response but he didn't wake. Shad did, however, turn his head to the left. And so it became clear to him that he had no other option but to carry out his idea. He had tried other ways, yes, but the scholar would not wake. Nope, didn't seem like he had any other choice.

Link licked Shad across the cheek, well, across the side of his face.

The scholar snapped awake, shouted incoherently, and pushed Link's face away. At first, he wasn't entirely awake and panicked but when he found his spectacles and his surroundings became clear, Shad was first surprised and then irritated to find Link in front of him. Link grinned and growled something close to a laugh. Yes, the scholar was glaring at him in annoyance but it was worth it.

"Do not _ever_ repeat that disgusting action again, old boy," Shad said, quite irritated, as he wiped Link's generous slobber off his face with a handkerchief. "I say, though you considered that highly amusing, I, for one, did not. I know quite well where that tongue has been and I would very much appreciate it if you kept it away from my face. Am I understood?"

Link nodded, still smiling.

"Very well then," Shad said, closing his eyes and turning his head to the side. "Due to your current limitations, in lieu of a true verbal apology, I request you make amends by permitting me the time to brew a proper cup of tea. Perhaps it will alleviate the aggravation you have roused in me."

While the scholar's head was still turned, Link blew another puff of air, this time against his ear.

Once the flash of shock subsided, Shad grabbed Link by the muzzle, though his hand was not large or strong enough to hold it closed. "I say, are you not full of it this morning?" he said, both his tone and stare cool.

Link barked playfully and nudged him in the chest as if to say 'Lighten up'. Shad still looked back at him with irritation in his eyes and would most likely remain unhappy with him until he had his tea. So Link padded off to an impromptu flying lesson to give Shad the time and space to wake up and get ready to take flight.

"The company I keep…" Shad grumbled to himself, though Link was still close enough that his better hearing could very well pick up on his words. "Not one can wake a fellow up sensibly. No, it has to become a farce..."

-o-

One cup of properly brewed tea and generous enough time to set aside his great distress over his morning rise later, Shad did feel better. Sure, wet slobber and waking with the instantaneous fear that some beast considered his taste quite palatable was not how he had desired to start off his morning.

Then again, if Shad had been able to curtail his wonder and excitement over the Feathers of Glory perhaps he would have been able to fall asleep quicker last night and would have woken up more readily. While he was never one to oversleep and rose fairly early (though not as early as Link apparently) in his daily routine, Shad had noticed that whenever he accompanied the Group and now Link, his body often needed more sleep to recover from the previous day's adventure. It was another disadvantage of his physical limitations, he supposed.

Still it had not been polite of Link to utilize such an appalling method. And yet it was not the worst method he could have chosen. Ashei still held that distinction after capturing and releasing a small cage of keese into his tent one mission. Shad had refused to talk to her for three days and would have not done so for much longer if it was not for Rusl asking him to do so for the good of the Group, especially since her idea of an 'apology' had been to smirk and say, 'But you're up now, yeah?'

Tea supplies gathered again and put away, Shad smothered the tiny fire out with dirt. As he did so, he noticed Link descending and observed his landing. It was a somewhat better try than his last but he still needed much practice. Wincing from the usual aches and scrapes from a rough land, Link was not seriously injured but he had skidded onto, well, into a yellow chu and what remained of the burst creature lay splattered across his face.

At first, Shad smirked, believing the accident to be an act of karma in retaliation for his behavior this morning. But as he watched Link try to shake off and claw at the thick, gelatinous gloop with little success, the scholar lost his smirk and headed over immediately, handkerchief in hand.

"Easy, easy, old boy," Shad said as he approached while Link tried another vigorous shake. "Allow me to assist you, if you will."

Once Link was still, Shad kneeled down and began cleaning. "Your natural body heat is melting the jelly, I am afraid, and it quite possibly may soak into your skin. Do inform me if you feel ill at any point later on."

_Not that I or any physician in all of Hyrule would know how to treat a dragon for yellow chu jelly poisoning, however I would still like to be informed in case we do require to seek medical attention. I say, I do hope the typical remedies will be effective, despite Link's atypical form. Actually, what I hope most is that there is a qualified physician out there that will be willing to treat a dragon at all._

"You did not catch any in the eye, did you, old boy?" Shad asked and Link shook his head no. "Oh, very good. Certainly any substance we can utilize as an alternative lantern fuel cannot be good for one's ocular health so it is definitively better that you had not."

Shad's main focus was to first remove and keep the yellow chu jelly from Link's eyes and mouth, neither were places the softening slime had good reason to be. In general, yellow chu jelly had a thicker consistency than the drinkable red or blue varieties. It was much more like barely-solid soft candle wax on the edge of liquefaction in its base state and it melted quickly under any sort of heat.

"I can remove the vast majority of it, old boy, however some will remain captured between your scales until we find a proper source of water to wash off the residue. I advise you do not place your countenance in close contact with or near an open flame in the meantime."

The possibility of Link's face bursting into flame was not the greatest of Shad's concerns over the unreachable yellow chu jelly in between his scales. Drinking yellow chu jelly was as unwise as drinking lantern oil and it was an equally poor idea to permit it to remain on one's skin as well. Neither was an advisable idea in the pursuit of maintaining one's good health.

A few minutes later, Shad saw nothing left of the jelly he could remove. He rose to his feet and began refolding his handkerchief. After realizing how soaked in yellow chu jelly it was, he decided against returning it to any of his pockets. "I say, I do believe that is the best we can do for right now. We should head out as soon as possible, though, and locate a water source. Aside from the fact our reserves require replenishing, for the benefit of your health, we should remove the jelly remnants post haste."

_I would also be grateful if I could rid my hands of the flammable slime as well,_ Shad thought as he walked back to grab his rucksack. _While I know Link received the worst of it and thus his well-being is in more of harm's way than mine, it has just occurred to me that I should be mindful of my own health as well. Or at least not bring my hands to my eyes at any upcoming point in time until they have been thoroughly washed._

_That and for future occurrences, I believe I should invest in a good pair of leather working gloves._

-o-

The spires and towers of Hyrule Castle grew not only in size but also in clarity as Link approached. If Shad had to speculate, based on the sun and shadows, he estimated it to be late into the mid-afternoon. Quite frankly, Shad was looking forward to the end of their flight. They had not had a rest since their brief but highly necessary pause at a small waterfall to rid themselves of the yellow chu jelly and Shad's legs desperately required a respite of vigorous movement.

Much to the scholar's relief, Link stayed high enough in the sky so not to elicit panic from the townsfolk below and immediately alert the guards of their presence. Sure, they would be aware of them soon enough, however it was better for Link and Shad if the castle guards had as little time to prepare their unnecessary defenses as possible.

Link plunged through the cloud cover and swooped down toward Hyrule Castle at a curved angle. The rooftop guards scurried about, raising the alarm and manning their positions. Shad's worst worries came true as he heard the first cannon's boom.

_As terrible as this may come across, I do hope that the Royal Guards' effectiveness is up to its typical inadequate standard_, Shad thought as he ducked and wrapped his arms around Link's neck as Link took swift evasion action. _Heaven forbid, a cannoneer does the unthinkable and his aim is blessed true. A rare occurrence, I say, but not wholly improbable._

Brought by apprehension and wind speed, Shad closed his eyes tight and murmured prayers as Link suddenly jerked to the right and then dove into a roll to the left. Cannonballs whistled around them, their sounds barely audible through the cannons' thunder. At last, Link was able to maneuver through their firing range and land in the courtyard.

Well, not so much as make a landing than a crash, that is. It was not as if the guards would have allowed Link the time to break his speed properly and make a gradual descent. It still was not his worst landing and frankly, Shad had to commend him for doing so well under so much pressure. He certainly had performed better than the scholar would have if he ever had to land in the castle courtyard under fire.

Eyes closed and a hand on his forehead, Shad sat up, winced at the pulse of the familiar ache in his head, and waited for the bit of disorientation rattling his thoughts to dissipate. All in all, Shad thought he would be accustomed to the feeling by now and yet he was not.

"Unharmed, old boy?" Shad said, eyes still shut as he recovered.

He heard Link rise and shake off the dirt and what little aches he had from his body. And if that was not enough of an indication he was unscathed, Link nudged him in the arm and voiced a low but affirming rumble.

"Ah, I surmised as much," Shad said, smiling to himself as he wondered if anything could truly harm Link. "A moment or two and I will be right and standing, old boy."

And then Shad heard the cacophony of out of sync, rushed, metal footsteps clanking against the courtyard cobblestone.

Link crouched down and eyed the quickly enclosing circle of nervous armored guards as they pointed their shaking spearheads toward them. He lashed his tail from side to side, the sound of his tail feathers crackling like fire.

Shad peered up at the guards and smiled nervously. "Ah, good afternoon, gentlemen," he said, a slight tremble in his voice. "I am certain you are all wondering what is the meaning behind this and I assure you there is a perfectly legitimate explanation—"

"Silence, intruder!" the one brave guard shouted, though if Shad had to speculate from his overall demeanor the guard's bravery was clearly mere bravado.

And if anyone was qualified to determine whether a man was pretending to be brave, it would be Shad. After all, the scholar had spent more moments than he could count in his life putting on a bravado.

As the guard made a tentative warning jab of his spearhead toward Shad, both his arms raised at chest-height in show of surrender, Link growled.

"Hush now, old boy, no need for that," Shad said and then turned back to face the guard. "I assure you that he really is not an aggressive dragon at all. He is not one inclined to strike indiscriminately but only in self-defense. In all truth and sincerity, sir, he is merely responding to your display of hostility. Not that I blame him as that was quite discourteous of you, sir, to interrupt me and while I was trying to offer you a justification for our actions and presence too—"

"I said, _silence_," the guard commanded and Shad pressed his lips shut. It was not like he was listening to him anyway. "All right, men!" he continued. "Arrest the intruders!"

The other guards hesitated and looked uneasily at one another. Shad did not blame them. Even when he was not enraged, Link's dragon form was intimidating. However, if one gave him reason to attack, he would attack. And since he did not want to be arrested or liked the guards' treatment of them (and firing cannonballs certainly had not helped), Link definitively had reason.

"Now, gentlemen, there really is no requirement," Shad said, trying to diffuse the pressing tension. "If you just permit me the opportunity to explain ourselves, I assure you that you will understand that there has been a minor misunderstanding between us."

Since the rest of his men were too afraid of a very unhappy and growling Link to approach, the one brave guard managed to muster the courage to grab Shad by the wrists and hold them with one hand as his other reached for his iron manacles.

"What is the meaning of this alarm?" a young woman said, her voice remaining at speaking level but carrying a strong air of authority.

Taking the guards' lead, Shad followed their line of sight and saw Queen Zelda standing in the open threshold of a long, arched stone walkway. Link lost his crouched position and sat straight. His growling also ceased. All the guards, including the one readying to shackle Shad's wrists but had released his hold at first sight of Zelda, stood ramrod straight and saluted their recently-coronated queen as she approached, her dress undulating delicately with her steps.

"Why were the cannons fired?" Zelda asked. "Commander, inform me."

"Ah, Your Highness, there is nothing to worry," the one brave guard, evidently a commander, said. "Your magnificent army had spotted a danger flying in from the heavens and we executed the proper course of defense. We are apprehending the intruders as I speak. Please return to your shelter immediately and await for the call of all clear."

"Excuse me, Commander, but did I hear you right?" Zelda said, her eyes and tone taking on a firm edge. "Did you just tell me to return to my shelter?"

"A-a-ah, thousand pardons, my lady," the commander said, offering several small apologetic bows in succession. "I-I was just adhering to proper protocol."

"I cannot reprimand you for following orders, but in the future, keep in consideration that royal command always supersedes protocol, Commander."

"Yes, Your Majesty," the commander said, giving a short swift nod.

"You may leave," Zelda said.

"But, Your Highness, these intruders—"

"For the final time, if you permit me the opportunity to explain ourselves, you will finally understand that we are not intruders," Shad said, his frustration from not being allowed to speak clear in his stern voice. "We are not here as assailants. We are not here to cause harm or jeopardize the sanctity and security of the kingdom. We are here because I am a citizen of Castle Town, my draconian friend of Ordon, and we are here as is our right to seek Queen Zelda's counsel and aid."

"If you are simply petitioners, why did you not come through the petitioner's gates?" the commander said, still doubting their innocence. He, quite frankly, had run on Shad's last nerve and the scholar saw no more reason to show him civility and so Shad glared back at him.

"You do see that one of them is a dragon, Commander?" Zelda said, eyebrow raised incredulously at him. "Honestly, whether they had came from the sky or from the proper gates, their presence would have raised alarm. Their decision had simply offered the least potential panic. Because I assume neither one of you thought you would arrive without inciting some sort of response from my guards…"

"No, my lady. We were fully aware of the consequences our presence would induce," Shad said. "Though if I may say, the amount of cannon fire we received was a bit excessive."

"In the name of protecting our beloved Hyrule, there is no such thing," the commander said.

"Yes and when an actual threat appears at our gates we will be most prepared, will we not, Commander?" Zelda said, smiling softly at him as the commander bowed his head in embarrassment. "I do believe I have dismissed you and your men," she added.

"Ah…yes, Your Majesty," the commander said, saluting her. "Men! On my order… March!"

Shad was rather happy to watch the guards leave. It at least meant he was in the company of more reasonable minds. While Shad had nothing against following protocol and in fact he much preferred to as much he could in his daily life, their military, at least the recent lot of recruits, tended to produce an unordinary amount of narrow-minded soldiers unable to divert from the establishment.

It did not help that all too many of the young guards tended to allow their newfound authority to rush straight to their heads to the extent they lost all common sense and basic civility, especially once they were issued a weapon. Power, after all, was less easily acquired than ale but it could easily inebriate and destroy a man in a far less dosage than any of Telma's strongest brews.

"Well then, why have you come?" Zelda said, eyes meeting Shad's and causing the scholar to swallow his breath out of nervousness.

Hyrule's young queen was a woman of extraordinary presence and grace. She was also a woman of extraordinary beauty. Shad was rather overcome with disbelief being in her presence. Meeting her face to face was something he had never expected to be allowed, however he was beyond delighted to have been given the opportunity.

"Your Majesty, pardon us for any and all intrusion, however we require your assistance," Shad said, trying to keep his trembling hands still and his self-composure at some sort of level of non-foolishness. "Truthfully, we know of no one else we can turn to for matters as such. I say, this is rather a unique issue and we would be ever so grateful if you were to offer your assistance."

"I will do what I can," Zelda said. "Now, what is the nature of this issue you speak of?"

"Well, as absurd as this may sound, my lady, this dragon that stands beside me and that your guards seemed most keen on antagonizing was, for most of his life, Hylian. Most specifically, the dragon is Link. Our problem lies in the sincere truth that neither he nor I know how to metamorphose him back proper."

"Luckily, this is not a problem I am unfamiliar with," Zelda said, looking down at Link and smiling at him. It was a rather knowing smile, Shad had to note. Zelda then raised an elegant, gloved hand above Link and passed it along his body. "Tell me, how did this transformation come about?"

"Ah, umm… well, Link and I were exploring the capital of the Oocca up in the heavens…wait, pardon me, Your Majesty, are you familiar with the history of the sky beings? Fascinating creatures, the Oocca are. Less than a handful of scholars actually place credence in the existence of the sky beings. Of course, thanks to Link, I can now validate their existence. There is so much we have to learn from them—"

At Link's sudden snort of air blown against his ear, Shad shouted in surprise, hunched down into his jacket, and quickly ducked away to the right.

"In the Goddesses' name, what is the matter with you—" Shad, his cheeks flushed and his eyes sharp, shouted at Link and then a reason why Link would have abruptly snorted in his ear suddenly occurred to the scholar. "…I was rambling, was I not?"

Link nodded matter-of-factly.

"Sorry, old boy, and pardon me, Your Royal Grace. I did not mean to divert from our forefront matters," Shad said, giving a small bow in apology. "Very well then, where was I? Ah, the City in the Sky… During our study, Link discovered a previously unknown pathway and chamber and I, unbeknownst to myself, summoned the four Light Spirits within said chamber."

"That is extraordinary," Zelda said. "I was unaware that anyone not chosen by the Goddesses was able to summon the Light Spirits."

"Ah, yes, well, I never imagined anyone, certainly not someone like myself, being able to do so as well," Shad said, bowing his head in shame for everything that had happened as a result of his summoning the Light Spirits. "But you are correct, my lady. It was extraordinary. The meeting was absolutely spectacular until Link inquired if the Spirits would assist us with aiding the Oocca and then the Light Spirits proceeded with an attempt on our lives. They also transformed Link into what you observe now, Your Majesty. We would both be ever so grateful if you could break the curse upon him and restore him to proper form."

"I would if I could but I cannot," Zelda said, her voice and expression solemn. "The blessings the Goddesses have given me are not responding to the enchantments that bind him. I see you have the Master Sword with you. It did not respond to Link's transformation either, did it?"

"No, my lady, it did not."

"As it would not. The Master Sword does not allow evil to remain in its presence but since it did not respond, it does not recognize the Light Spirits' magic binding Link as evil. Being that the Master Sword and the Light Spirits' power all draw from the Goddesses, they cannot and will not counteract each other. It is also why my blessings cannot aid you either as they also come from the Goddesses."

"But, Your Majesty, is there some way Link can reclaim his natural state?" Shad asked. "Surely he cannot be imprisoned in this draconian form forever?"

_I certainly hope not, _Shad thought. _I cannot imagine how I would feel knowing I could never be restored to proper form, that I would remain a lonely beast, unable to speak or even see my friends and family without inciting fear and panic. I say, it is a truly terrible fate for anyone. It is certainly not an existence that Link deserves after what he has done for us all. _

"There is no magic I know of that will aid him as it is all aligned with the power that binds him. Short of the Light Spirits dispelling their enchantments or the Goddesses Themselves assisting Link, there is nothing that can be done to restore him." And then she looked down at Link and said, "I am sorry."

_No, _Shad stared at the ground in disbelief. _No, this cannot be. We cannot lose hope. I say, in this vast land the Goddesses blessed, there must be something that will assist us. Order and rightness must be restored. _

"Ah, well…" Shad stumbled through his words, still reeling from the truth that his worries that Queen Zelda would be unable to help them were a reality. "A thousand wishes of gratitude for your assistance, Your Majesty."

"You are welcome," Zelda said, sadness in her eyes and in her polite smile. "I only wish I was able to assist you more."

Shad returned Zelda's farewell bow as the young queen proceeded back into her palace and returned to her royal duties and responsibilities. Until one of the guards commanded them to exit the courtyard and, as it was, none were approaching them, Shad and Link stared inattentively into the finely manicured grass and wondered how and where they could go for help from here.

"I…" Shad spoke reluctantly, "I am sorry, old boy. I possess not an inkling of thought of what might potentially return as you truly are and as it appears by the queen's assessment that there is no magic that can assist us, short of the miraculous."

"However, we are not without purpose," Shad continued, hope coursing into his voice. "I say, the Oocca require our assistance and we still have to restore the Feathers of Glory to them. Perhaps, if we somehow fail to uncover a means in our search, the Oocca themselves, once their memories are reclaimed, will know of one. Having existed since before the Hylians were ever a thought, surely they possess knowledge and wisdom of magic far more ancient and beyond the record of any library, do you not agree, old boy?"

Link tipped his head to the side in slight but uncertain agreement.

_Understandably, I say,_ Shad thought, _given that neither one of us possesses any information on the location of the Feathers of Glory. Nonetheless, we have purpose. We have hope._

-o-

Once Princess now Queen, Zelda sauntered down the western palace hallway on her way toward the throne room and to the waiting petitioners desiring her counsel. Many were commoners with legitimate complaints and actual need of aid, others were nobles with proposals in mind, and a select few from either descent had decided that she and only she was worthy of settling their every insignificant squabble and slight against one another. It was her duty as Queen to rule and serve her people to the utmost her authority would allow, though fortunately she had the power to dismiss petitioners if their requests were trivial enough.

Zelda did try to listen to as many petitioners as time allotted and not one of her subjects had ever complained that she had not tried to assist them or failed to find an agreeable solution. In the case she could not rule in their favor or legally could not assist them, she saw to it that the petitioners left understanding the laws preventing her from granting them justice or aid.

After all, Zelda was not cruel. She was kind. She was just.

Which was why her incapability to assist Link weighed heavily on her mind.

Down the spacious gray stone hallway, cold, drafty, poorly-lit, and indistinguishable from any other, and watched over by ornate silver suits of armor unsuitable for combat, Zelda proceeded slowly, her every thought consumed with her failure and regret.

Her distress did not just afflict her mind. She also felt a heaviness in her chest, an iron claw gripping her ribcage and squeezing her heart and lungs. Her breath quickening, she paused in her slow stride and pressed a gloved hand between her bosom.

She had failed. She had done nothing for one of her subjects, nay, _the Hero_. She had lied.

Most peculiarly, the sweet, pungent scent of honeysuckle suddenly filled the air. Even when the scent swiftly became cloying, Zelda found it comforting. It reminded her of her mother, who loved the fragile blossoms so much her diadem was a crown of silver leaves and gold honeysuckle. Her mother had grown honeysuckle in the royal garden and had made perfume from it. Zelda could not count the times she had fallen asleep in her mother's arms as a little girl, lulled by the scent of honeysuckle wafting from her mother's bosom. Sometimes she wished she had the chance once again to be held by her mother and take in the scent of her sweet perfume.

Though she was fond of the scent and the memories it stirred, the aroma started to make her lightheaded. Hand pressing against her temple, Zelda staggered forward, managing only a few steps before stumbling into a wall. Her eyes closed, she stood with her hands and cheek against the cold stone.

She could not think. She did not know what to do. The scent was choking her, leaving her unable to call for help. The room was spinning around her. But she knew she had to get away, get out of the honeysuckle's grip. Pushing away from the wall, Zelda hurried. She hurried in whichever direction her feet would take her. Somehow, some way, she would find a way out. She had to.

Zelda tripped. As she felt her body fall forward, hands and arms grabbed hold of her and raised her back to standing. She felt as if she was floating. Too dizzy and weak to hold her head up a second more, her head fell back and found rescue in the crook of a Golden Goddess's neck and shoulder. Zelda stood limp and helpless in their arms.

She didn't know where she was or what was going on. All she knew was that she was in the presence of the Goddesses amidst an endless white void of light.

They were beautiful. Undoubtedly, they were the most beautiful women in the world. No, mortal standards of beauty were above these women. Their skin was a rich, deep, glowing gold. Their long golden locks fluttered and undulated against their perfect naked bodies. Their eyes were like luminous gems—sapphires for Nayru, emeralds for Farore, and rubies for Din. Their faces, however, were the same. Their faces appeared different because they had different personalities and thus expressed themselves differently, but otherwise, aside from their eyes, they were identical.

"There, there, Child. Do not be afraid of us," Nayru said. Her voice was a mother's voice. It was warm and assuring. It was loving and kind. It was the voice of a mother who knew and understood much and had much to teach her children.

"Us?" Zelda whispered in disbelief.

"Yes. You know us. You know many things," Nayru said, wrapping her arms around Zelda from behind and pulling her into a hug, her supple golden breasts pressing against her clothed back. "You know of a way in which to free the Hero from his enchantments, do you not, My Blessed Child?"

"But you did not tell them!" Farore said. Her voice was younger, eager, and girlish. "You could have told them. Probably should have. He is the Hero, after all. Your Hero." She grinned and brightly giggled as she twirled and danced sprightly around Zelda.

"Yes, he is the Hero and this is the way you show how grateful you are for all he has done? Tsk. Tsk, Child," Din said, smilingly wryly and waving her index finger in a playful show of disappointment. Her voice was deeper than the others, sultrier, and bore a dark, mischievous undertone, especially when she smiled.

"I did it for the good of my people," Zelda said.

"We know and you have done what is right," Nayru assured and patted her shoulder gently.

"What is right for all!" Farore chimed in, grinning broadly.

"Well, it is not wrong to sacrifice one for the good of the many, I suppose," Din said, smirking.

Sacrificed? Was that what she had done? Had she sacrificed Link for the good of their people? No. No, it was not like that at all. She had lied to him, yes, but for his own good as well for their race. Sure, he was trapped in the form of a dragon but at least he still had his life. She had not sacrificed him. She had done what was right.

"But Link—"Zelda tried to protest.

Nayru swept her left side lock away from her face and cupped her cheek. The Goddess of Wisdom's touch seemed so much broader than it truly was. Zelda felt as if her cheek rested on a warm pillow. But the feeling was stronger than that. In the presence of the Goddesses, she felt as if she was enveloped in a sheathe of gentle sunlight.

"Fret not, My Child—" Nayru murmured softly.

"For he brought it upon himself," Din finished for her, her hand replacing Nayru's. As she slid her hand along Zelda's jaw, the featherlight sweep sent tremors throughout her body.

"He did?" Zelda asked, her eyelids fluttering as she tilted her head up as Din's fingertips stroked up and along her throat.

If it were not for the Goddesses holding her up already, her strength would have betrayed her and her body would have given way. Even the lightest touches from them sent her mind reeling. The presence of the almighty Goddesses was too much for her mind to process. But she dared not to pull away. Even if she had managed to summon the restraint and will, she would not have been able to break free. Nayru's arms were around her. Gentle as they were, Zelda knew they would lock around her if she tried to escape. Only by the Goddesses' intention would she be let go.

Not that she wanted to leave. No, why would she? Though there were sages, monks, and priestesses who said they had been visited by the Goddesses, how many of them had truly, ever truly basked in the glory of the Goddesses? None, she suspected, and never like this. The Goddesses were offering her a blessing and Zelda dared and desired not to refuse them.

"Yes, the Light Spirits attacked him," Nayru said.

"And it is the Light Spirits' duty to eliminate any and all threats to Hyrule," Farore said, nodding assuringly as she wrapped her arms securely around Zelda's right arm and drew herself close to her. Zelda's shoulder lay nestled between the Goddess of Courage's full breasts. "Even if the source of the danger is the Hero himself."

"He must not be allowed to succeed. You know this to be true…" Din said as she leaned in and whispered softly into Zelda's left ear, "…_Hylia._"

Zelda was not sure if the name had sent jolts throughout her body or if it had simply been the Goddess of Power's warm breath brushing against her ear and gliding down her neck.

"He seeks ruin, sister," Farore said, concern ringing in her voice. "The end of us all."

"We cannot rely upon the Hero. It is you who must be Hyrule's savior," Nayru said.

"You must uphold the Light—" Farore said.

"And purge Hyrule of the coming darkness," Din said.

"You are the only one who can do this, My Child."

"You must, sister! You must!" Farore urged as she let go and floated into the white void around them.

"The world will burn without you, sister," Din said before she too vanished into the light.

"For the good of your people, for the good of us all, you must not allow him to succeed," Nayru said as she joined her sisters, releasing Zelda as she did so.

Zelda awoke on the carpet in the western hall. Frantic guards and maids surrounded her and rushed to her aid and service. Their frenzy was a blur to her, their words muffled noise. Weak and tired, she was nonetheless their Queen and she would serve them to her utmost.

"Stop him…" she ordered. Though she could barely speak above a whisper and there was so much commotion going on, surely someone would listen to her. They would not ignore her. Someone would hear her order.

"It will be all right, Your Highness," a maid crouched down beside her. "The Royal Physician is on his way."

"I…no…Link, he—" and as she tried to convey her commands, the maid simply smiled at her and held her hand.

"Stop…him."

No one obeyed. Lost in their worry and concern for their Queen, no one could hear her. No one listened.

-o-

"Very well then, old boy," Shad said, as they finalized their plans. "We shall strive on with our expedition for the Feathers of Glory. With any mercy of Her Royal Grace, perhaps Queen Zelda will permit us the assistance of the Royal Library in search of vital information regarding the Feathers of Glory. This unfortunate hindrance in our mission of restoring you to proper form has set us back once again, however we unquestionably must proceed onward with some sort of course of action. Our leads are few but we must pursue them nonetheless."

Doubting any of the guards would be kind enough, much less willing, to impart a message to Queen Zelda to permit them a second short meeting with them, Shad supposed their best option was for them, well, perhaps just Shad, to wait with the other petitioners in line to speak with Queen Zelda once more.

And with the number of daily petitioners and the amount of time the royal advisors allotted for the queen to meet and respond, Shad also supposed that they would be stuck spending more than a week or two trying to speak with her again. The scholar had no idea where he could board Link at night in the meantime.

_Then again, perhaps we would not have to wait at all,_ Shad reconsidered. _After all, the presence of a dragon does tend to incite urgency. _

As Shad deliberated heavily over the rightness and morality of utilizing Link's dragon form to their advantage by merely having Link present in line, thus inciting the petitioners into a panic and manipulating Queen Zelda to respond to their request first just to get them out of the way, the scholar felt Link nudge his elbow repeatedly in a try for his attention.

"What is it, old boy? Shad asked and Link turned his head in the direction where a tiny, squat man was shouting orders at bigger, burlier men pulling in a cart carrying a secured statue.

Overall, it was a relatively interesting sight, certainly was not entirely common, however it was not out of place either. Shad recognized the man shouting orders was Professor Bambudle, professor of history at the Collegiate Academy of Exemplary Higher Education. For a time, he was also Shad's advisor during his one-year admission to the Academy before several circumstances—mass academic ridicule, the revoke and theft of his scholarships (after all, what other word could he attribute to the Academy's actions), and his mother refusing to pay a single rupee toward his tuition until he agreed in writing to cease his research on the Oocca and pursue a proper field of study—forced Shad to take a very extended leave of absence.

Turning his attention away from his old professor, Shad peered over at his professor's discovery as his men followed orders and raised the stone statue to standing. It was an impressive statue of a large, magnificent phoenix, its wings raised upward in a nearly-closed circle above its fiery plumed head. Most notably and peculiarly, every curve and line of the phoenix's carving glowed with a vibrant green light.

_So it seems my old professor has uncovered something very interesting indeed_, Shad thought as he hastened over in eager excitement for the potential knowledge awaiting him.

"Excuse me, Professor?" Shad called. "Professor Bambudle? It's—"

At last finding his attention, Professor Bambudle most unexpectedly smiled warmly and nodded readily at Shad in greeting. Shad was not aware his old professor was that fond of him, especially since at their every meeting the man had proceeded to end their discussions and dismiss Shad as quickly and politely as possible.

Shad soon discovered why his old professor was so happy to see him.

"Ah, Carov, nice to see you," Professor Bambudle said, offering his hand. "I thought you wouldn't be up and about for months after what those Goron did to you but you're looking extraordinary well."

"Actually, sir, I am not Carov. I am Shad." And still the professor could not place him. "I once inquired your academic insight on my father's findings concerning the sky beings."

"Oh, yes, yes!" Professor Bambudle said, nodding and smiling jovially as he at last recognized him. "And I told you it was complete and utter shite, didn't I? "

"Ah, yes," Shad said, his voice unenthusiastic at the reminder. "Yes, you did, sir."

"Well, if you wish to ask me again, I will save you the trouble and inform you that my opinion remains the same. Now if you'll excuse me—"

"Actually, sir, I wish to inquire you on this here stature your men are pulling in," Shad said, knowing his old professor could never pass up an opportunity to boast.

True to his understanding, Professor Bambudle readily obliged. "Fascinating find, isn't it, boy? I was doing a little excavation in the southern field, uncovering many interesting fossils in the surrounding hills when I came upon this statue just standing, all alone, in the center of a small valley. The valley itself was surrounded by steep hills and really, it was more of depression, you could consider. Nearly unreachable but I had my men course through it."

"And the most peculiar thing of it all happened last night. The statue had began to glow and then, all of its own accord, it had moved. It had changed! The statue had physically changed! It was then I knew it to be an artifact of vast historical importance so I had my men excavate it and bring it to Her Majesty. A magnificent find, don't you agree, boy?"

"Yes, sir," Shad replied.

"Ah, of course, it is," Bambudle assured proudly. "It is no doubt worth an academic grant of a vast amount, I do believe."

_I say, none of which will be allotted to any sort of academics or exploration and will only see the lining of your personal coffers,_ Shad thought disdainfully.

In his youth and with his father as his standard, Shad had once believed that all scholars pursued their areas of study all and only in the name of research and discovery. It was his brief time at the Academy and in the advisory company of Professor Bambudle did he learn otherwise.

"Ah, well, sorry, boy, but I cannot chat any longer," Bambudle said. "Sorry to say that I must leave you and your albino dodongo. Much work to be done, after all."

For a second, Shad believed he had heard him wrong but no, he had not been mistaken. "Ah, pardon me, Professor, however Link is a dragon."

"A dragon, you say?" Bambudle said incredulously, pausing mid-step and partly turning back around to face him. "Nonsense! There are no such things as dragons, you silly boy."

_There are no such things as albino dodongo. _"Again, you must excuse me, sir, however I do believe there were once dragons. The Hero of Time, in fact, faced a dragon during his rescue of the Gorons—"

"A dodongo, boy. It was the king of the dodongo, not a dragon," the professor of history insisted. "Really, young man, a dragon? How preposterous! You really should brush up on your fundamentals, boy. Do a world of good for you to get your head out of those clouds, it would. Might I ask you how your research on the…Akaka, was it?"

"The Oocca, sir," Shad corrected, "and my research is progressing in leaps and bounds."

"Ah, I see." Bambudle nodded. "Managed to grasp onto another one of your father's meager straws?"

"You could say that," Shad said, trying to keep his voice as measured as possible but could not stop his rising anger from heating his cheeks.

"Hmm, well, then I wish you luck, boy," Bambudle said with a quick farewell half-nod. "Excuse me, but I have a very important meeting with Her Majesty I must attend to. Good day to you, Shab."

The mispronunciation of his name, Shad could grit his teeth and remain quiet on. The jab at his father's lifelong research, he could not idly let by. "The sky beings are real, Professor."

"Yes, yes, of course, they are," Bambudle said as he continued toward the palace.

Shad clenched his jaw tight until the professor was well inside the palace. The young scholar tried to keep his thoughts to himself but he also knew he was correct and the indubitable facts would not allow him to say nothing.

"How a fellow of his smug ignorance to the very subject he proclaims to be knowledgeable in was not only granted an instructor's position at the Academy but also bestowed tenure, I will never understand," Shad said. "Granted I realize belief of the sky beings is scarce among academics, however, l say, that man has no right to his position if he believes Volvagia was a dodongo."

The scholar had spoken mostly aloud and to no one, but if asked, he would have immediately explained he had been talking to Link. Whether the old boy had been or was listening was another matter altogether, however.

In fact, as Shad inquired, it came to his awareness that no, Link had not been listening. He was not listening to him at the very present moment. Shad called to him and then crouched down in front of him and snapped his fingers repeatedly before his eyes, fixated on the statue, and received no response.

_Ah, well, down the rabbit hole again, are we not?_ Shad thought as he straightened to standing and crossed his arms over his chest, hands cupping his elbows. _Suppose I have no place to grouse. At least his brief trances garner plentiful results. However, I say, I do wish I had more involvement. I feel quite daft just standing here. Waiting._

_…Seems like even with Link, my most practical function is to stay behind and wait._

The phoenix stone began to sing a simple, light, airy tune, a carefree, idyllic tune that could have easily been played on panpipes or whistled by the wind. Without pause, Link returned the next part of the melody. The song continued with another round of their short call and response duet before their voices merged and rang in harmony. At last, the remnants of their duet faintly reverberated in the air and the phoenix's glowing green carving lines burst into green fire.

The burning green phoenix took flight, rising a short distance into the air before diving down and circling around Shad and Link. The trail of light it left behind it simultaneously blazed like fire and flowed like water.

Momentarily blinded by the encompassing blaze surrounding them (but not burning them, despite the notable presence of heat), Shad opened his eyes as the phoenix's ring of fire dimmed and saw that day had become night in a matter of seconds. A sky of innumerable stars and unfamiliar constellations greeted his eyes. The stars circled overhead at a hurried pace and in reverse to their natural orbit—from those two indicators alone and without taking in the rest of their strange surroundings yet, the scholar knew he and Link were no longer in Hyrule.

"Where are we?" Shad asked, the echo of his voice sounding immediately as he spoke. "And just as important, if not more so, is there any means for us to return to our world?"

As the blazing green phoenix sang the song that had summoned them to this albeit fascinating other world and twisted and danced high above them, Link and Shad looked about, one keen on study (and perhaps a brief exploration since they were here, after all, and it would be a shame to not) and the other assessing threats. They stood on a floating field of tall grass made of light, shining every shade of green. From the way the grass waved on its own without the wind's push, the field was like a verdant aurora borealis.

Floating in the void nearby were glossy, boulder-sized chunks of obsidian and from them cascaded rivers of quicksilver from imperceptible sources. A handful of dark green dragons, so dark green they were nearly indistinguishable from the obsidian, rested on a few of the boulders. Some glided from rock to rock and others, young ones, struggled to cling onto their poorly-chosen perch as the obsidian rotated about in its own orbit.

The dragons mostly ignored them, but a few needled their orange eyes into them. While they were intimidating and would be even if they were not trying to be, attack did not seem to be their forefront response. For now, they watched them and Link watched them. Shad hoped that would be all the dragons would do.

The phoenix held its final note and soared off and then burst suddenly into flames midway toward what Shad deemed the horizon. The green flames erupted and spread throughout the void. The fire rose higher and higher and shaped itself into a slender humanoid form with thin, cat-like slits opening up and showing the starry void as its eyes. The being of green fire raised a hand and held the field and the surrounding circle of obsidian stones in its palm.

Neither Shad nor Link knew what to make of the fiery being. They stood slack-jawed and wide-eyed in uncertainty, Shad more so in fear and uncertainty. Shad's heart raced and pounded in his ears. He knew nothing of the Spirit or God that blazed before them. He did not even know if it was a Spirit or God before them. The only truth he knew for certain was that there was an enormous supernatural entity before them and it quite literally held their lives in the palm of its burning hand.

_Oh how I do wish it is not aligned with or bears a similar mindset as the Light Spirits regard of our existence,_ Shad thought, his breath swallowing harshly as he continued to stare into the black void of the being's slit eyes. _I say, I shudder to imagine Link having to soar our way through this bizarre space and somehow manage to return us back to our own world. I do not wish to consider the possibility of failure, however._

As Shad readied himself for escape and evasion and terror from yet another hostile being of magic, a voice, neither male nor female but high in pitch, sang:

_We, Singers, bound in old_

_Lay between, beyond the green and gold,_

_Shroud in mist, cast in shadow,_

_Exiled, and denied hallow._

_Forgotten beast of heaven and earth,_

_Eight Feather of Glory, key to our rebirth._

_First lies amidst meadows green,_

_Beasts of service, and river's sheen._

_Find these relics, We, Singers, implored._

_Rightness and truth must be restored._

_Beast of heaven, earth, and light,_

_Onward and outward, messenger, take flight!_

Immediately after and without giving Shad a solitary second to process its message, the Singer exploded. Brilliant green light overtook the scholar's sight and the force of the blast sent Shad flying. He feared he and Link would remain floating in the void trapped in their own rotation, unable to reach one another, until their slow but eventual deaths. He also considered the possibility of flying off the edge of the field of light and plummeting to his death. Given his lack of understanding of this strange world's laws of physics, it was an entirely plausible possibility to him.

Shad swallowed a grunt of pain as first his tailbone and then his back made sudden contact on what felt quite like very solid earth and was positively not what he had expected falling onto a field of light to feel like. Slowly, he opened his eyes and saw the first stars and rays of twilight sweeping across the early evening sky. Their sky. How glorious it was to see it.

Bracing a hand on his aching lower back, Shad sat up. With a low grumble and shake of his head, Link sat up as well. Bambudle's men stood staring at them, their mouths open in shock. Shad was uncertain as to why, though he considered his and Link's sudden fall from nowhere was quite possibly the legitimate reason. Seemed like the best explanation.

Shad did not observe the phoenix statue anywhere in the courtyard, just a large hole dug where the statue had been. He supposed Bambudle's men had just finished moving it to wherever Bambudle or perhaps Queen Zelda had ordered as its new home. The scholar wondered if its flames remained to blaze ever on or if the phoenix had simply returned to its active, glowing state, or if it had gone dormant after it performed its duty and transformed into the Singer. In truth, he would never see the statue again now that it was in the royal family's possession so he would never know what became of it.

Shad soon felt a very hard droplet of rain plunk against the top of his head. He peered up and saw that it was not rain falling but rocks and there were many more and many larger ones crashing down in its wake. Shad scrambled and hurried out of the way as the falling rocks reunited with the earth.

"What in blazes is going on here?" Shad said. "I say, if the guards wished for us to leave, we would have promptly done so if they had simply requested us to. There is no necessary requirement to toss rocks at us. The manners of some people, old boy."

Examining through the larger rocks, Link barked at Shad and the scholar hastened over to see and assist how ever he could. Link flipped a rock over with his snout. On the other side, there were lines, carved lines. After a few moments of study, Shad realized the familiar carving looked very much like a portion from the phoenix stone's wings. It was in that very moment that he realized these were not common rocks. The rocks were the shattered pieces of the phoenix stone after it had exploded.

Bambudle's men were clearly not staring at them because he and Link had appeared suddenly but because the phoenix statue had abruptly blown up of its own accord.

"Umm…pardon me, old boy," Shad said as he anxiously peered about the courtyard at Bambudle's men slowly coming to their senses and flashed the men a placating smile. "However, I do advise that we should take our leave very soon. After all, it would discourteous of us to overstay our welcome."

And, well, large, angry men who quite readily wanted to be informed how a statue could mysteriously self-destruct, an irate professor cursing his most disliked student and blaming him for the loss of his magnificent find, and castle guards interrogating him on his actions at the scene of a crime were not conducive to contemplation. And having what they required and desiring much more suitable surroundings in which to decipher the Singer's message, Link and Shad took off, letting the setting sun be their blinder.


	9. Chapter 9

Story Title: Our Wind Will Shake the Earth and Stars

Disclaimer: Yea, I still don't own TP. And yet my updates take as long as a new game.

Author's Notes: Thanks to Debbie the Fabulous, mysticalgems, rowen raven, PaintingWithFire, HMP, and Kitade for reviewing.

The entrance to this first location is actually one of the few places that readers can actually visit in TP. Unfortunately, it takes a dragon's strength to open. I apologize for the wait. For some reason the writing for this chapter came out as easily as do-it-yourself dentistry. And then I got a new job and basically life took over and forced me to stop most of my updates. I've been lucky to get out what I have—basically my Shad/Link holiday collection—on time.

I had actually planned on getting through a good portion of the first dungeon and stopping at the final boss but Shad's investigation threw a wrench in that. The few necessary conversations he has does provide some background and progress some small subplots so more than likely the change was for the better anyway.

This is the longest chapter yet. If only I could have halved it, I would have split it. Fact, I felt like I was working on "Snowdrops" again, the chapter was so long. I suppose it's my compromise for such a long wait, although the long wait was in part due to the long chapter…

As always, thanks for reading.

-o-

Chapter Nine: Trespassing Is Frowned Upon In Some Societies So Knock First

-o-

It was very early in the morning and, thanks to a quickly brewed cup of tea, Shad was awake and thinking. The scholar had never once proposed the possibility that he would wind up one day trespassing and sleeping the night away in some Lanayru Province farmer's barn. Waking up quite before dawn among the livestock with a dragon beside him had never been a logical possibility to him but here he was living that exact reality, sitting up on a large mound of hay with his back pressed against a feather-and-scaled Link.

While Shad had not found their sleeping arrangements too comfortable or mild on one's olfactory senses, Link was absolutely at home resting among the farmer's small herd of Ordon goats. As it was, the old dragon-boy was nuzzling a recently born kid, wrapped in a goat blanket but finding much benefit from Link's radiating body heat as well. It was not the only creature lavishing in his constant warmth. The barn cat, having performed its duties or simply desiring a break like all cats did, had also hopped up upon Link's back and hadn't moved since. It was still breathing, Shad noticed, and once in while he could hear it purring.

And Shad supposed he should include himself among the creatures benefiting from Link's body heat. However, it was just for a brief period of time to warm and wake his chilled body, that was all. The cold, after all, had been the very bother that had awakened him.

It would have been wiser to have just rested beside Link all night, true, however Shad had not believed it would have been proper to do so and no doubt Link would have thought it…peculiar of him to do so but he supposed sitting up beside him and momentarily letting his warmth spread across his chilled back would be acceptable. For a little while, at least. It certainly had been and continued to be a welcomed relief.

Despite the exceptional early hour, there was enough tea and warmth inside Shad to rouse his cognitive processes into adequate working order. Luckily, he only had the Singer's message to contemplate and not, say, three or four urgent matters to address. No, he only had a single message of vast importance to decipher, one bearing all the weight and hope of finding one of apparently eight Feathers of Glory he and Link required to restore the Oocca to proper form and memory.

_And I possess not the foggiest suspicion of where the first Feather might reside, _Shad thought, staring into the last of his tea, now cold. _I say, the Singer's message certainly does not seem to offer much in the way of specifics. Meadows green and river's sheen could refer to a vast portion of Hyrule's geography. And there is no telling how long and far we might have to search before we finally pinpoint the location in question. _

The scholar considered the rest of the Singer's message, particularly its reference to laying 'between, beyond the green and gold…' however, he doubted no other lines were intended to direct them toward the Feather's location. Little within the message gave Shad much of an indication of where the Feather might be.

_I say, the Singer might as well have informed us that the first laid under a rock near a damp spot. Would have been as useful, I do suppose,_ Shad thought, drinking the remnants of his cold tea, and frowned. The scholar could not decide if it was his frustration sharpening the bitter taste in his mouth or if it was simply the dregs of his tea.

"I do not suppose you possess a suggestion of where the first Feather is located, do you, old boy?" Shad asked and Link shook his head no.

"I cannot say I possess much of an inkling myself," Shad said, his head tilted downward, as he idly tipped his empty teacup around in his hands. "However, I do believe we have a long search before us. While I never expected our endeavor to be anything close to simple, I did possess expectation that we would not be scouring every inch of countryside and from the very first Feather."

Lost in his disparaging thoughts that it might be decades before they obtained all the Feathers and restored the Oocca (and Link, for that matter), Shad had not noticed that the young kid had taken an interest in his presence, or well, if not actually him, then in his clothes. As it was, it had found his short purple jacket interesting enough for an exploratory nibble and then it decided its snout could quite possibly fit inside his pockets and that the best way of measuring that would be to simply stick its snout inside and see. Because if it could fit, then it could give the contents of his pockets a taste too.

So really, the little goat did not care about Shad's presence at all. In fact, it seemed quite annoyed that he was there and that he was quite insistent about not allowing it to rummage about his person.

"Excuse me, however that is not where your mother's milk can be acquired," Shad said, trying his best to push aside or at least manage to hold the young goat away from him. "Kindly desist your rooting about my pockets and instead proceed upon a search to locate her."

But the kid would have none of that. No, it was ready to continue with the presumed wrestling game it was having with Shad, a game the scholar did not wish to have with the little blue Ordon goat and tried many times to no avail to persuade it that he was not playing with it and to cease its vigorous antics immediately. At least Link was finding amusement throughout his ordeal and smiled as Shad struggled to hold back the rearing goat and argued with it to settle down as the goat bleated back at him as if it was a tantruming child screaming no.

If there was anything proven to Shad without a shadow of a doubt at that moment, it was that he was not a goatherder at heart or mind or body or in spirit or blood and that devoting his life to the husbandry of livestock was not an occupation he saw himself ever taking a sudden inclination toward. Just as bees did not construct their hives under the ocean, scholars did not belong in barns.

"Stop! I said stop now! I say, I shall retract my previous thoughts admitting that I considered you and the rest of your brethren cute if you do not discontinue your deplorable behavior at this very instant," Shad said, right before the young goat butted him right on the chin.

With a sharp cry in pain as bone struck bone, the scholar fell back, one hand holding his chin and the other instinctively raised to protect his face. He felt Link move beside him and caught a glimpse of him intervening by literally poking his nose into the situation and between them before his attentions demanded he assessed his damages.

Luckily the kid was so recently born that its horns had yet to develop and it really had been a short playful bump. Given that when a young Ordon goat charged, its skull could fracture bone, his chin could have suffered much more than a steady, throbbing pain throughout his lower jaw and an unsightly purple welt. Shad ran his tongue along his teeth and checked for any sudden chips or looseness and thankfully found nothing.

With Link not permitting it to reach him anyway, the young goat decided he would suffice as his new playmate-battering target—Shad was not positive which Link was intended to be. While the spirited little goat bounced around, stomped, and rammed its head against his scales, Link focused more attention on Shad and made a questioning growl.

"I will be all right, old boy. It merely smarts like the dickens," Shad said as he rose back up to sitting. He eyed the little goat as it persisted on with testing the strength of its skull and hooves out on Link's body. "Heavens, never in my life have I met such a belligerent little beast."

And his words, meant merely as a casual comment, unintentionally begat a pearl of wisdom.

"Is there a river flowing through Ordon Village, old boy?" Shad asked and Link nodded. "Then while I cannot say with any certainty that it is without an absolute doubt the location we seek, I do believe it would be prudent of us that we first search your homelands for the first Feather. It does meet the message's specifications, after all."

Shad grabbed his rucksack, put away his teacup in its proper place among his tea supplies, and rummaged about for the last of their red potion and realized he should properly fully stock their medicines if he was going to persist being a lightning rod for physical trauma. Off to the side, he saw and winced at the sight and sound as the young goat banged its head against Link's forehead as he tried to nuzzle it once more and discovered that only a dragon's skull could outmatch a young Ordon goat's skull in strength.

An odd mix of concern for its safety and self-satisfaction for the little beast getting what it deserved rushed through Shad as he watched the stunned kid wobble backwards and fall onto its side. Only momentarily dazed, it soon sat back up and peered about woozily before shaking its head free of its shock and then bleating at Link. With a few comforting licks to its forehead from Link, it soon forgave him.

"I say, did you felt even one of its cuffs?" Shad asked as the kid staggered off and found its mother.

To no actual surprise to the scholar, Link shook his head no.

"Yes, well…" Shad mumbled, sending jolts of pain through his tender jaw, as he slipped on one strap of his rucksack over his shoulder and stood, "…we do not all possess a dragon's hide."

Link alerted him that someone was coming and not long after they heard a man shouting that someone had broken into the barn. Rushing through his checks, Shad swiftly made sure he was not leaving anything behind and that the Master Sword's bindings were still secure and hurried onto Link's back.

Link rushed through the open barn doors and past an absolutely shocked farmer as he gawked at the sight of his unexpected barn guests taking flight. Shad hoped he would not think it discourteous of them for trespassing and, just in case, he had left a few rupees in payment for their board behind.

-o-

After flying what seemed twice the time it really had been, stopping only once outside a small town to procure medicines, a quick breakfast, and a few provisions, at last Shad and Link had reached the outskirts of Ordon Province and prepared to descend. The scholar had to admit that, while Link's determination and sense of urgency was admirable, soaring from destination to destination with little to no pause was torturous on his back and legs. More often than not, landing brought forth joy simply at the prospect of being able to stretch and walk about.

It was the middle of the afternoon and by Shad's speculations and Link's estimation, they still had a two-hour trek through the woods before they reached Ordon Village. Even with Shad there to explain matters, it seemed wiser to keep Link out of view—after all, Link's new form incited fear and panic whether he was trying to or not and the scholar was uncertain if their story would be believed once they calmed the villagers' screams low enough for their story to be first heard.

Of how they planned on searching the village, Shad did not know. He supposed nightfall would be the best time but eagerness and intellectual curiosity rested on his shoulders like two tiny poe imps whispering in his ear, urging and prodding him to go onward. Truthfully, his eagerness and curiosity were hardly conspiring devils and were more like like-minded supporters ever chipper as lark to insist the scholar proceed with their potential leads posthaste.

He had his doubts about Ordon Village too, however. He tried to counter his doubts with his father's teachings to remain optimistic and never dismiss any lead no matter how arbitrary or unlikely to garner results it was but his mother's influence persisted in reminding him that the entirety of Ordon was backwoods and was not even a part of Hyrule proper at all so why trifle his time there? Granted he knew little of the village or of Ordon Province as a whole but of what he knew from Rusl and Link's accounts, there did not seem much in the way of prospects awaiting them.

_Nonetheless, it is a lead, the best and only we possess, so it must be pursued,_ Shad lifted and ducked under a low-hanging pine bough as he trailed behind Link. He found it absolutely remarkable to the point of being ridiculous as to how even in his dragon form his footfalls were nearly inaudible. Link could walk through tall grass and barely cause the leaf blades to stir while the slightest step from Shad made the forest bed rustle, snap, and crunch beneath him. He could hear birds fluttering away and caught sight of a red fox family taking shelter in their den.

_I am not positive which scared them off,_ Shad thought as he tried to tiptoe through the thicket of wildflowers and leave with as few fragile blooms crushed as possible, _the sight and smell of an unfamiliar glowing beast or the thunder of my leaden footsteps._

Shad was surprised none of the villagers had heard his steps or been alerted by the fleeing fauna by the time he and Link reached close to Ordon Village. Remaining in the bush, they discussed how they would approach their search. From what the scholar could deduce from Link's growls and pantomime and his vague map in the dirt, they were not far from Link's house or the spirit spring.

"I say, there appears to be few points of interest, though I doubt that will promise a swift and simple discovery," Shad said, crouched down and holding his chin as he contemplated the map and all their possibilities. "Might I suggest I take survey and gather all the information I can and then when night falls, you and I can proceed with a more proper and thorough investigation?"

It became quite obvious to Shad after a while with no response and his stare remaining canted to the forest floor that Link was not as keen on his suggestion as he was. Though he could not tell what he was thinking and he could not ask him, Shad surmised a few guesses as the reason behind Link's sudden unenthusiasm.

"This is your hometown, I know," Shad said, laying a hand on Link's forehead, "and I realize it must be difficult to be forced to hide from one's loved ones. However, do you believe with absolute certainty that they would react only positively to your presence in your present state?"

Knowing the answer and disliking it, even if it was sensible and for the best, Link made a deep rumble in his throat that Shad supposed it meant that he reluctantly agreed with him. Link turned away and walked over to an expansive, tangled canopy of kudzu and slipped under it. With some rustling and reposition, Link was soon curled up beneath its shelter and shade.

"Be patient, old boy, and I promise you I will not tarry," Shad said. "I will be swift in my return and I say, when I do, I will possess greater acuity of our present situation. In the meantime, do keep out of sight and take care."

If there were any means of letting Link accompanying him, Shad would have gladly had him join him. There was an uneasiness in Shad's stomach as he headed off toward the village by himself. He reminded himself that the benefits of having Link accompany him would not outweigh the risks of his presence in the eyes of his friends and family and so his guilt was not justified.

_It is necessary and I am not leaving him for long,_ Shad told himself. _He will be fine. We will be fine._

Although the people of Castle Town consistently described Ordon Province as comprising of woodlands and farmland, the land had just as many hills as it did trees. The village was also safely enclosed in higher hills rising into mountains. While the earth was very rich, the land itself was rough. There were not many villages throughout the province. Travelers were more likely to pass by a single house, maybe a cluster of houses built by a family, than find a true village.

Shad slid down from the shortest hill he could locate into a patch of dry grass and soon found himself in front of Link's home. While momentarily surprised, it soon was no surprise at all and soon made perfect logic to Shad that Link would reside in a tree.

"I say, the old boy does appear to share housing preference with the much fabled Hero of Time, as he also does with squirrels," Shad murmured, though he had to admit that Link's home did appear to have excellent and stable construction. "Or is it a prerequisite of Heroes to make lodging in trees?"

While he highly doubted Link's home would provide a wealth of information concerning the location of the first Feather, Shad decided it would be best if he left no proverbial stone unturned. So in the pursuit of academic exploration, Shad headed up the ladder. Fully aware Link was not home but unable to allow himself to break from proper decorum, Shad knocked on his door. And when he was absolutely sure that no one was coming to answer him, he checked the doorknob. Much to his surprise, it was unlocked.

"Hello? Is someone here? I say, if there is, I know you are not the residential owner," Shad said, peeking his head through the doorway. "Even so, pardon me for not waiting to be invited inside, however the door was open."

It soon became apparent to Shad that there was no one inside Link's house.

Link's house, while hardly grand, was actually more spacious than Shad had surmised from the outside. It was also tidier and more organized than he had expected, though a few things, mostly farming equipment, did seem laid out here and there for his convenience. It was rather dark inside, with only a few rays of sunlight pouring in from a square roof portal. Definitely could have used a bit more lighting. The cooking fire was unlit and there were signs of recent dusting and cleaning. The place certainly smelled clean. Actually, it smelled of rain and wood and hay and of sweet tree sap that was not all that strong or unpleasant.

_A little deficient in furnishings, I do suppose,_ Shad thought as he stepped about and peered up at the ladders leading to additional platforms, _but full of rustic, homemade charm nonetheless._

His task at hand of gathering information was set aside and once in while he had to remind himself of why he was here in the first place as he looked around and admired the various keepsakes and trinkets Link kept out. There were pictures of his friends, of his horse, of Colin and the other Ordon children and there were drawings made by the kids and intricate woodcarvings of hawks, goats, and wolves.

_I do believe I comprehend better his reluctance to remain hidden,_ Shad picked up an ornamental iron horseshoe and admired it. It possessed all the telltale indications of being Rusl's craftsmanship. _I say, there is great love between him and the village. He is a son of Ordon._

A familiar shape on a low shelf caught his eye as he returned the horseshoe to its former place. The shape was, in fact, books sitting on the shelf. Yet again reminded of the task he had set out to complete, Shad hurried over to obtain what possible knowledge he could from Link's meager library.

While pitiful in comparison to Shad's collection, there were certainly more books than his mother would have expected any Ordon-born to possess. Some books, like on goat husbandry, the flora and fauna of Hyrule, and herbal remedies, Shad quite expected to see. The books on sewing and astronomy he did not.

Though he worried it would be improper of him to do so, Shad could not resist reorganizing Link's books according to subject and then by alphabetically by titles (normally it would have been by author, however not all the books appeared to have authors). There were cookbooks, survival books, fishing books, and a book of fey tales.

_Admittedly my chances of procuring information from Link's personal library were doubtful from the beginning,_ Shad skimmed through the fey tales for an unfamiliar story—few as there would be—and for any that were particularly relevant to their quest. _However, I had hoped there would have been one book detailing Ordon's history and culture._

There was promise in a worn leather book. Shad had laid it aside during his reorganization due to its lack of a title or any sort of formal cover page and had thought little of it afterwards. With a quick once-over, it turned out that the book was not formally printed but was a large journal handwritten with information on Ordon's annual festivities with the quasi-mythical stories behind each day, associated imagery and foods, and scripts for plays.

_I say, it does appear that at one point the old boy was cast in a role in a reenactment,_ Shad was momentarily absorbed in reading the Grain Mother's defense of the Corn Wolf. _I find it difficult to imagine him performing and I have my suspicions these plays are not something he participates in with much eagerness. I do believe one day when I am able I will inquire him of his past performances though._

There were harvest festivals and observances of the solstices and equinoxes but nothing out of the ordinary for any calendar celebrations. Shad did at last discover a few holy days particular only to Ordon but uncovered nothing that would imply a Feather resided in the village.

Sliding the book back onto the shelf, Shad sighed. _I had my speculations that there would be indications to the Feather's location hidden within the village's history, however it is becoming more plausible that the Feather's presence has been forgotten or in all likelihood predates Ordon's establishment and record._

_Still I cannot yet forfeit. Surely there is more written about Ordon's past than just a few plays and what colors are proper to wear on the winter solstice. There are other books in town for me to scour and beyond that there is the oral tradition, our oldest form of record and storytelling. A poor researcher, I may be, however I believe I do not consider myself a scholar in vain._

In hopes of there being more books or something informative downstairs, Shad made his way down the short ladder into Link's cellar. Fumbling in the dark, he found an extra lantern and ignited it. Soon after, he jumped at the sight of his reflection in a framed standing mirror, momentarily mistaking his own image for another person. It was an unusual place to store a mirror, the scholar believed and thought its storage location gave interesting insight as to how much Link valued personal appearance.

Not as much care and cleaning had been given to his cellar recently. White-gray dust floured the potentially nice wooden floors and gathered in the corners and the bottom paneling. Cobwebs curtained the upper corners and tiny black house spiders scurried from his flickering lantern light.

So Shad's prospects of finding anything down here were lower than he had expected. There were just odds and ends stored away. There were bottles and vases, extra plates, farm equipment, an old saddle, boxes and crates of heavy bedding and winter clothes, jars of various canned foods, rolls of parchment—

_Ah, now there might be a worthwhile lead,_ Shad hoped as he stepped onto the bottom shelf, raised his arm toward the parchment and discovered he was just barely out of reach. If only his fingertips could just touch the roll, he could inch it off the shelf...

On the tips of his toes and his arm fully stretched, he had an idea but was not confident as to what the consequences of his idea in action would entail. He thought that if he just made a little hop he could inch the parchment right off the shelf. In fact, he knew it would work, he just did not know how strong Link's shelving was and whether his resulting reverberations would cause any other undesired effects.

Deciding to take chance, Shad hopped up, grabbed hold of the roll, and brought it down. The shelves were sturdy but the scholar was not and as he tried to regain his balance, he quickly grabbed hold of a shelf and knocked one bottle off and sent another rolling vigorously on its side and into an entire row of bottles. Glass tumbled and shattered on the floor, corks thumped and eagerly rolled away from the scene of their liberation, and the foul, musty smell of fermenting fruit and pickling juice quarreled with one another as to which would reach Shad's nose first. As it turned out, the quarrel ended in a tie.

And to make matters worse, the roll of parchment was blank.

_Ah, blast it! I knew very well that would happen,_ Shad pinched his nose shut and surveyed the damages, _and my gamble garnered nothing to justify my risk too. I say, so it seems all that I have earned is a mess to clean and a due apology. …I do hope the contents of those bottles were not of significance and will not be costly to replace._

With all the glass carefully swept and tossed, Shad slowly lowered a bucket of soapy water down on a rope and soon accompanied it down the ladder with a mop. Finding no justification as to how he could leave the rest of the floor dirty, he mopped the entire floor, swept out the cobwebs, and wiped off all the dust off the mirror. By the time he was through, the cellar certainly looked a great deal better, though the fermented fruit had left a deep purple stain on the wood. The more Shad frowned at it and pondered as to how to remove it, the more he realized it looked like a large puddle of purple chu jelly.

_At least it is nothing more than a stain now,_ Shad thought as he proceeded up the ladder. _I say, I had the devil of a time trying to scrub away all its sticky residue. I know not what mixture of fermented fruits that was, however I wish not—_

Shad's thoughts were cut short as he raised his head up to discover a sharp, shiny point of a sword inches away from his face. Eyes wide in fear, he gasped and instinctively raised his arms up in surrender, only to find himself falling away from the ladder, and so he latched back onto the rung for safety. In the flurry of his panic, his eyes finally focused on the wielder of the sword and an entirely different kind of shock fell over him as he realized the arm behind the blade was Rusl.

"Oh, Shad, it's you. Sorry about that," he said with good humor as he put away his sword and offered him his hand instead. "Kids heard a crash in Link's house and ran to me. Never would have guessed I'd find you here. I thought you and Link were off searching some ruins. Are you done so soon?"

"Uh, w-well, n-no…" Shad said, still a bit shaken. "As matters happen to be, our exploration seems to have barely begun."

Shad saw the swordsman's eyes widen in surprise at the news. So it seemed he had not expected Link's discovery to yield much in return, which did not surprise Shad. Rusl had always offered his encouragement and well wishes towards his research but the scholar recognized in the manner he smiled and in his tone that he did not actually believe his research would ever yield fruition. It was the common response of all his friends toward his research but Shad surmised it was a grade above outright disbelief and disparaging mockery.

"That is wonderful to hear," Rusl said quickly, having been taken off guard. "Link's discovery must have been something indeed. If I may, could I speak with Link a moment—"

"Actually, sir, he is not in town." And then it was Shad's turn to react quickly and respond appropriately. Even as he spoke, he prayed the lie worked. "He thought it best if he rode to Castle Town while I gathered the provisions and supplies he requested from his home."

Shad watched as the swordsman's jovial smile and stare fell and his eyes hardened. "I see…" he said, looking away. "The stubborn boy… He still can't face her."

"Her? Are you referring to Miss Ilia, sir?" Shad asked and Rusl nodded. "Pardon me if I am intruding, however has there been some discord between the two?"

"That is…one way of putting it," Rusl said.

Shad watched as Rusl hesitated to speak more and paced about the central room. Combing a few stray blond hairs away from his eyes, he sighed and eventually paused by the cutting board, a chopping knife wedged into it. The scholar was not certain what was the meaning for all of Rusl's reluctance to speak but it was clear to him that things had not been entirely joyous and peaceful since Link's return. Perhaps he was weighing and considering informing Shad at all of the peculiar matters going on within the village.

But, at last, so it seemed, Rusl had decided he should know after all.

Rusl stared down at the knife wedged in the cutting board. "Coming home has not been easy for Link. He has not learned how to set aside his weapons, so to speak. For months now, he has been sensing danger. Danger that does not exist. We have all tried to calm him and convince him that the darkness has passed but he remains restless, seeking to rid Hyrule of this coming danger."

Shad recalled the night the Group met to disband and the eagerness, no, urgency Link had displayed as he questioned the Group in search of potential danger. The scholar had no doubt what he had sought more that night was validity.

"He refuses to listen to anyone and of lately has regressed to snapping immediately at anyone who tries to convince him otherwise. He and Ilia have had quite a few disputes. She is only worried for him. We all are. Since all his talk of danger, he spends more and more time alone. Easier to keep from fighting with someone if there's no one to fight with, I suppose," he said and then turned away from the knife and looked directly at Shad and asked with a measure of concern in his voice, "How has he been? Have you noticed anything peculiar about him? Has he said anything?"

"No, he has not said anything to me and nothing concerning his behavior has struck me as particularly odd," Shad replied. "Fact is he has been in quite good spirits. One might even say he has been positively glowing of lately."

"Ah, well, good. It seems like some time away and a little adventure is doing him some good. Good to hear," Rusl said, though from the way he tilted his head to the side and rubbed the side of his neck Shad's report seemed to confuse him rather than eased his worries. "Well, the kids thought there was an intruder but it's clear they were mistaken and I won't keep you any longer. Do me a favor, Shad, and watch over our boy. Tell me if anything ever strikes you as odd or changed about him, okay?"

"Of course, sir, I will," Shad said and followed Rusl as he headed toward the open door. "However, if I may, why is my observation necessary? What is it you suspect may be causing Link distress?"

"Just that it is one thing to serve in Her Majesty's army, it is another to _be_ Her Majesty's army," Rusl said as he turned and climbed down the ladder.

The scholar wanted to contemplate the swordsman's words a little longer but Rusl's haste forced his attention elsewhere.

"Ah, and just a moment, sir," Shad said and Rusl paused in his step and turned a listening ear in the scholar's direction. "If I may inquire, where may I locate and peruse through your village records? I would like to know more about the history and foundation of your village and the province itself."

"Er, well…you'll find our records at our mayor's house," he said, evidently thrown by Shad's sudden interest in Ordon. "But if there's anything you want to know in specific just ask Bo himself."

"Ah, yes, thank you, sir," Shad said, giving a short polite bow, as Rusl headed back down the main dirt road through the village.

After quickly putting away the cleaning supplies where he had found them, Shad left Link's house, locking the door on his way out. Link actually lived just outside of the village proper. The village itself was quaint and rather sparsely populated. Even for being one of the larger villages in the province, there were only six houses and one appeared to suffice as the general store.

_I say, there appears to not even be a schoolhouse here,_ Shad walked across a short bridge, peering over at the waterwheel as he passed by. _At the risk of giving the impression of being elitist, I must question how the village functions. By Rusl's accounts, there is a strong sense of community and duty here, it is a place where everyone readily lends a hand to another and provides for one another, and the people are very hardy and self-sufficient._

_It is all quite admirable, indubitably, however there is still very little here at all. This environment, while quite lovely and earthy, does not appear to foster much in the respects of…diverse opportunities._

Reaching the mayor's house, Shad paused at the door, uncertain of how to approach making his request or even what was the proper protocol in introducing oneself to a mayor. He wished Rusl had offered to introduce him and he considered finding him and requesting he do so. He felt so nervous meeting Mayor Bo, which was strange since he had been less nervous during his meeting with Queen Zelda. Both were public figures, however Queen Zelda was known and beloved throughout the realm while the mayor of Ordon's renown was known only within the borders of his village. To Shad, he was a stranger and he had always had difficulty speaking to strangers.

Still he had gathered little knowledge so far and the highest likelihood of him doing so required the mayor's resources so Shad took a deep breath, adjusted his bow, raised his head up and knocked on the mayor's door. They were quite solid and thick, he realized, and wondered if he would even be heard without striking the doors with an object of equal density, namely a bat.

"Come on in, Colin," a man's muffled voice called from inside. "I heard ya."

So it seemed his knocks had been audible inside after all. Opening the door, Shad readied himself to immediately apologize for any disturbance and for not necessarily being the person the mayor expected but paused his tongue as he saw what appeared to be Mayor Bo in a pink apron stirring a bubbling pot on the cooking fire.

"Let me guess… You boys were practicing your sumo and Talo and Malo kept winning so you came for advice, eh, boy?"

Shad cleared his throat and said, "Pardon me, sir, but I do believe you have the wrong person."

Eyes wide at the unfamiliar voice, Mayor Bo turned around and saw Shad. He did not seem to know what to make of Shad standing by his front doors. The scholar did not know how common it was for strangers to enter the mayor's house. He hoped he was not being rude or gave the impression he was here to do wrong.

The mayor was a large man, tall and stout. He also appeared to possess two large, protruding tusks that the scholar hoped was some bizarre fashion selection on the mayor's part and were not natural, though if they were they had to be the purely result of the Goddesses' capricious whim or inebriation. Shad found his sight repeatedly fixating on his…facial abnormality, however Shad knew it was improper of him to do so and corrected his behavior once he was aware of himself.

"Ah, good afternoon, sir," Shad said, a bit nervous and with a short polite bow. "Also I hope you do forgive me for appearing at your doorstep uninvited or unannounced and for interrupting your supper preparation."

"Ah, it's no trouble. The pot needs to simmer a while anyway," he said, wiping his hands off on a towel. "Sorry, I mistook you for Rusl's boy. Figured it was him since he's the only one that ever bothers to knock." And then, as they shook hands, Mayor Bo scrunched up his face in deep consideration as he tried and failed to place Shad from memory. "…I've never seen you around here before, have I?"

"No, I am afraid not, sir. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Shad and I am an associate of Rusl and Link. I am chiefly a scholar specializing in folklore and history and if I may be permitted, I would like to learn more about your village and start by studying your records."

"Oh, a scholar? We don't get too many of those," Bo said, eyebrows raised. "There's been woodsmen, farmers, peddlers, and travelers and they all get what they need and go but no one has ever stopped and wanted to learn about Ordon. Come to think of it… You're probably the first. No, no, wait, there was that artist years back. Sweet young lady. Painted the loveliest landscapes. Drew these sketches of me as well."

Shad saw the framed sketches of Mayor Bo posing in nothing but his sumo _mawashi_ on the far wall. The sketch itself was not badly drawn, in fact it showed potential and talent, but it did appear to be rough and hastily completed, as if the young lady artist did not find her subject appealing to say the least.

"If I hadn't been grieving my missus's passing, I would've thought of courting the little butterfly…"

Not positive of how to respond properly, if at all, Shad politely remained silent. With the mayor lost between fond reverie, longing, and regret, it didn't matter if he had responded. As the awkwardness grew and the discomfort in his stomach tipped over and fluttered, Shad covered his mouth and cleared his throat in hopes of regaining Mayor Bo's attention.

"Sir, if I may, I would like to have permission to peruse your records, if possible?" Shad asked.

With a moment to shake the fantasy from his mind and rush across the bridge back to reality, Mayor Bo readily agreed. "Sure. Anything you need is right over there."

The scholar had deduced from the moment he entered the mayor's home that the large desk and even larger wooden chair directly across from the kitchen space had to be his office. Nearly hidden behind the chair was a bookshelf lined to every possible inch with books and even a handful of scrolls on a few of the upper shelves.

Excusing himself to begin his work, Shad walked over and sat at the mayor's desk. The chair was, in fact, twice Shad's size. He felt like a little boy, a toddler even, having climbed up into his father's chair again—at least his feet could touch the ground. The chair had looked uncomfortable on Shad's first assessment and indeed, it was. It was no wonder that Mayor Bo was up and about.

"If you like pumpkin, you're welcome to dinner. I know it's still a ways but my soup is an all-day creation. Best in town," Mayor Bo said, smiling with pride as he turned back to his pot and stirred what Shad could now see was a bright orange soup. "It's all there but if you've got any questions, just—"

"GOAT!" a young man shouted in panic from outside. Even through the thick wooden doors, the fellow's voice was clear inside the mayor's home.

Fumbling with the knob at first, at last the fellow opened the door and quickly poked his head in the doorway. He seemed to be anxiously running in place as he spoke as quickly and with little breath to spare, "Sorry, sir, a goat got loose. Could ya…please?"

Shad watched as Mayor Bo bunched his fists at his sides, bared his teeth, and struggled to not explode at the young ranch hand as he repeatedly bowed and apologized for his mistake. It was obvious he wanted to yell but held himself back for some reason—Shad supposed it was either due to his presence or the urgency of the matter.

Control managed, Mayor Bo vented a long sigh. "Sure, sure. Go on ahead, do what you can, and I'll be behind you," he ordered and the young man rushed off in pursuit. "That boy, I swear… I wish Link would see there ain't any danger and come home. I'm gettin' too old for wranglin'. Goddesses, if he don't settle down, I'll have to wait 'til Colin's old enough to get a good hand."

_Let us hope Link may return before that,_ Shad stopped himself from saying aloud and swallowed his air.

Asking Shad to make sure his soup did not boil over while he was gone, Mayor Bo tossed his apron onto his table and hurried after his ranch hand. The scholar did not mind and, in fact, he preferred the solitude. So far, Mayor Bo had not asked too much about why he wished to learn more about Ordon and he did not want to raise the mayor's curiosity and force Shad to lie to him, especially after he had been so kind and welcoming to him.

Almost all the books were handwritten and hand-bound journals. There were law books, books recording births, marriages, and deaths, dates of bizarre natural occurrences and massive storms, annual crop quantities, and even a record of the largest pumpkin ever grown, the fattest goat, and a list of victors of a semi-annual pumpkin soup cooking and competitive eating contest. Bo may have won Best Taste but Link was the undisputed champion of soup consumption—there was a note under his inhuman, impossible yet real record of six gallons that he could have ate more if they had not ran out of soup to continue the competition, which by then didn't have any other competitors and was simply the curious villagers' search for the bottom of Link's stomach.

Out of the four filled shelves, there were far more books written by Bo on the art of sumo than on the history of Ordon Village or its province. So far, Shad had found few books centered on Ordon's history and even less in the way of potential leads. Very little seemed to be written on the founding of the village but Shad was just starting a promising chapter when he heard footsteps tapping down the curving set of stairs ending by the front door. In a blue dress patterned with white peony blossoms and serpentine vines, Ilia made her way down the steps.

"Pa, I'm going to the spring—" she called and then she caught sight of Shad and was quite clearly taken aback by his unexpected visit. "Oh hello… We've met before, have we? In Kakariko? Your name's Shad, right?" She did not appear particularly positive that her memory was accurate.

"You are correct on all counts, Miss Ilia," Shad said, smiling as he rose from her father's chair and offered her a quick, polite bow in greeting. "A pleasure it is to meet you once more."

"The same," Ilia said with little feeling and gave him an obligatory smile that swiftly faded as she approached him.

Taking a seat once more, Shad noticed she was holding a simple row of panpipes at her side. Overall, she seemed to be behaving a bit distant toward him and the scholar could not pinpoint a reason why—their brief time and even fewer words to one another in Kakariko had never been anything but warm and cordial.

What he had mistaken as a distant demeanor at first, Shad soon reassessed was, in fact, uncertainty. More than once, she began to speak and then promptly decided against the idea. Shad waited as she composed her thoughts.

Peering away from him, she gently swayed from side to side in nervousness and managed in time to partially ask, "Uh…is Link, umm, is he…"

"Afraid not," Shad said and, not knowing how to continue, left it at that.

"Oh…" she said as she stared down into the floor. "Rusl said something about him helping you with your studies… You're still doing that, right?"

"Indeed we are," Shad replied. "Fact is we will be heading off to pursue a lead just as soon as we have gathered a few necessities."

"So you'll be gone a while…" It seemed to Shad that a hard edge was creeping into her tone.

"More likely than not, we shall."

"And he has no plans of coming into town and telling us?" she said, tightly clutching her panpipes in one hand and curling her other into a fist, as she closed her eyes and her frown grew pinched. "Does he think now that he's a Hero that he can do whatever he wants and he doesn't have to say goodbye? He doesn't think we won't worry about him?"

"Miss Ilia, if I may say," Shad said and, sensing and hearing the rising tension in her voice, raised his hands in a please-settle-down gesture. "I assure you that if Link were able to show himself in town and speak to you that he would rush to you without delay. However, circumstances have forced him to remain elsewhere for the time being."

"Circumstances? What kind of 'circumstances'?" The scholar flinched as she fixed her sharpened stare on him. "I bet he's still sore and he doesn't want to show up, is that it? Our brave Hero is a sulking, stubborn brat! Fine! Let him be that way." She circled around and stormed off toward the door.

"Now, now, wait, Miss Ilia, it is not like that at all!" he said, rising from the mayor's chair and scrambling to get around his desk and reach her. He hoped she would stay and listen. He was not positive he could keep up with her if she bolted off in anger. To his gratitude, Ilia paused and turned toward him.

_This is a fine kettle I find myself in,_ Shad groaned to himself. He felt flutters of anxiety in his chest and his stomach felt so knotted he swore it was braided. _How I have become a contributor in their quarrels or, if nothing else, been forced to mediate between them, I do not know. However, it is clear I have provided brush to their fires. That, I cannot permit._

The scholar tried to approach Ilia with absolute calm. He tried not to tremble and show how anxious he was. He hoped his smile did not seem forced and was reassuring and that he did not stutter through his words. All in all, he really hoped he simply did not wind up incensing Ilia further.

One last calming breath to soothe his own nerves, he said in an even tone, "Now, Miss Ilia, whatever sort of quarrel the pair of you have had, I assure you he has put aside and were he able to do so, he would inform you of that himself but not without first embracing you warmly and with much delight to be in your presence. However, as matters are and will be for quite some time, he cannot. His absence is not intended to be a personal affront toward you or is in continuation of your recent rows but has been forced upon him by circumstances outside and beyond our physical, mortal realm."

Concern blended into her anger. Her mixed expression made her appear more confused than anything else. "He's all right, is he? He isn't hurt?"

"No—"

"Then why wouldn't he come home?" Ilia said, raising her voice. "What's keeping him? He ever find his supposed 'danger'?"

Shad resisted the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose in frustration. He felt a stress headache blossom on his right side but he resisted massaging his temple as well. This was truly a fine kettle he was in and indeed he felt as if the water inside the kettle was beginning to boil around him. Neither solution placed before him was favorable.

As it was, either he lied to Ilia and risked her discovering later on that he had been untruthful and most likely increase her and Link's quarrels in the future or he could tell her the truth and risk the news of Link's metamorphism spreading and force undue worry on the poor girl. It was not exactly his place to give up Link's secret either, now that he considered it, and he had his doubts whether the old boy would have wanted Ilia to know of his newfound form.

At long last, he decided to be honest. After all, he couldn't fabricate a reasonable lie he thought Ilia would believe quickly enough.

"Miss Ilia, if you swear to speak not to anyone of what I say next, I will explain as best I can," he said, stepping closer toward her and lowering his voice. "Do you swear?"

A bit puzzled by his sudden seriousness, Ilia nonetheless nodded.

Shad noted the door was locked and all windows around them were closed. At least, his news would most likely remain shared between them. Still worrying his news would travel, he leaned close to her and spoke at a whisper. "There is a curse upon him," he explained, "that has altered his appearance to that of a beast. His presence would neither be recognizable nor welcomed within the village so for now he remains hidden. The magic that binds him cannot be undone by either Her Majesty or by his Master Sword. We seek to restore him, though we do not know when he shall be Hylian once more. Far as matters have been, it may be quite some time."

As he pulled away from her, he watched the weight of his message sink in. Shock and disbelief at the news of Link's fate quickly shifted into sadness. A hand resting on her heart, Ilia stared inattentively downward, her thoughts holding her focus elsewhere.

"I can't see him," she at long last said. "…Not for a while at least."

"It would be for the better," Shad said and offered her a brief, soft smile in sympathy, which he doubted she had noticed but he had offered it nonetheless.

"Then when you see him…" she said, turning away from him and toward the front door, pausing as she laid a hand on the doorknob. "Tell him I'm sorry."

"That I will, Miss Ilia."

She pulled the door closed behind her and was gone. Shad was not particularly pleased by the cloud of worry his being truthful had draped over the girl. What little opportunity he had ever been in her presence, he had noted she was a sweet, cheery young lady brimming with hope. She had never showed much concern and had even smiled in the face of never regaining her memory but every time Link had set off from Kakariko, she would wait by a window, her eyes fixed toward the gates.

_I recognized the risks of divulging the truth to her. I was aware this might and quite possibly would occur,_ Shad thought as he sat down at her father's desk once more and returned to his research. _And my only means of mending her spirit is to restore Link to proper form and we may only proceed with that after we have collected the eight Feathers._

_…And I have yet to prove the existence of one._

-o-

Even after a short nap under the kudzu, Link couldn't stand to wait anymore and crawled out from hiding. If he had to guess, Shad had to have been gone four hours now and he must have not found anything yet or he would have been back by now.

If there was something to find, that is.

Link thought he knew everything there was about his village but he couldn't think of anything that would lead them to the first Feather of Glory. He didn't think Ordon Village was hiding a Feather but it did fit the Singer's message and it wasn't like they had any other clues. It was as good as any other place to check.

Knowing he was safe from most of the villagers, Link padded through the forest, picking up the scent of the trees, the earth, and animals stronger than ever before. There was a deer around the ridge, a lynx had marked a tree, and if he focused hard enough through all the smells around him, he could pick up the scent of honey in a nearby hive. Even being used to the sudden barrage of new sounds and scents from his first change into a wolf, his hearing and nose were now even stronger as a dragon. He was relearning to sort through the noise and focus only what he wanted to and he was getting better at it, even found it fun to find out what everything smelled like.

Shad probably would not have thought it was wise of him and would've told him not to but as soon as he caught the faint shouts of the kids playing, Link hurried toward them. Even with his large size, he could still sneak through the woods without a sound. As long as he didn't crawl too close to where the kids could see his glowing scales, he thought he'd be all right.

Inching his way under the cover of some thick, thorny holly bushes, Link flattened himself against the ground and found a gap he could see the kids playing through. Talo and Colin were chasing a ball while Beth and Malo stood waiting in front of old fishing nets on opposite ends of the clearing they were playing in.

It seemed the kids had made up a new game but it was easy enough to figure out as he watched them play. Talo stole the ball from Colin and headed toward Beth but then Colin took the ball back and ran toward Malo and when Colin was close enough, Malo stepped away and let Colin kick the ball right into the net. Link was pretty sure Malo was not supposed to let Colin score but a point was a point. Beth cheered on and clapped for Colin on the other side.

Soon enough, it was clear Malo wasn't playing the game right.

"Malo, you're supposed to stop him!" Talo shouted at his pudgier younger brother.

Malo rolled his eyes. "Why should I?" he replied dryly. "It's your own fault you lost the ball."

"Well, it's 'cause of you I'm losing!" Talo said, stamping his bare feet in frustration.

Usually Link stepped in at this point and calmed Talo down but this time he couldn't and hoped the kids could settle their own fights this time. Knowing Talo's temper and stubbornness, it probably wasn't likely but he was showing Colin more respect of lately and they were playing more together so maybe he would listen to Colin as well as he used to listen to him.

As Colin opened his mouth to speak, Beth interrupted him. "He's got a point," she said, smiling. "If you didn't lose the ball, we wouldn't be winning." She wrapped her arms around one of Colin's and laid her head on his shoulder.

"It's not that we're winning," Colin said, blushing and looking around nervously. "It's just a game—"

"You're not winning," Talo said, heat rising to his cheeks. "This game is just stupid."

Sliding his deadpan stare over onto his sweaty brother, his clothes, feet, and face all covered in a fine brown layer of dust stirred up from today's play, Malo said, "You're the one that came up with it."

"Yeah? Well, I say it's over!" he said, kicking the ball into the bushes by Link before running off.

Colin called him to come back but Talo ignored him. Link could see the disappointment in the fair boy's face as he failed to calm things down. After their time in Kakariko, Colin had grown a lot braver but he still had trouble speaking up among his friends quick enough sometimes.

"I wonder at the end of their battle if Ganondorf got to throw his sword away and run off crying too?" Malo said. "…But I guess my brother's logic doesn't work for every battle."

"Oh, he's just upset Colin's gotten so strong," Beth said, smiling and batting her eyes up at him. Link noticed she had apparently snuck into her mother's makeup and had put on some sky-colored powder—not that Colin noticed, no matter how much close she leaned toward him and fluttered her eyes at him to try and get him to see.

"Umm…sorry, everyone," Colin said, head bowed in apology, and managed to free his arm away from Beth. "I'm going to go get the ball, okay?"

Seeing that the ball was just inches away from him, Link swiftly flicked the ball with his tail and snuck away. The ball flew up and toward Colin and the shocked boy scrambled to catch it. For a moment, he stared at the ball in his small hands and then looked bewildered out into the bushes. Link knew he was wondering how the ball had tossed itself but it had still been a better idea than letting the bright, observant boy come so close to seeing him. Colin would have noticed him. He would have found him. Link didn't want to scare him. He didn't want to hear and see his little brother in all but blood scream and run from him. It was hard enough to hide away in the bush.

At first, it seemed like Colin was going to let the oddness pass until Link freed himself from a tangle of thorns and made the nearby bushes rustle. Link paused. Colin looked and then waited and then looked again but slowly he stepped away, looking over his shoulder and back into the bushes only once.

"We should… Let's play something else," he said to Beth and Malo. "Want to go catch greengills?"

Malo didn't seem to like the idea (but then again he never seemed up for any idea and basically went along with whatever was going on) and Beth wrinkled her nose in disgust. "I don't have to touch them, do I?"

Malo murmured something that angered Beth but Link was too focused on sneaking away in the opposite direction to listen in much. Sneaking up and watching the kids play had left a bittersweet feeling churning in his stomach—on one hand, he had missed them and he had wanted to see them and he was glad to have seen them. But he also couldn't be seen and hiding only reminded him how he would always have to watch them from afar. He felt both happy and sad, more sad the more he considered and the more distance he put between himself and the kids.

_It's not forever,_ he reminded himself as he climbed up a rocky hillside covered in moss and anchored with giant protruding tree roots. _It's only for a while, a few weeks, months, years at most while we find the Feathers, but not forever. I'm only gone now but I'll be back._

He did wonder what the kids might be thinking. It was too soon since he left for the kids to wonder why he wasn't back but in the coming weeks, months, one of them would say something. If Rusl hadn't told them already he was helping Shad with his research, maybe he would tell them then but every day after when he didn't come home, the kids would still wonder why he wasn't back or hadn't sent word with the Postman. The longer he stayed away, the more the kids would figure out something was wrong.

_But it won't be that long,_ Link thought. _Shad'll come back and know exactly where the Feather is and we'll be on our way, one Feather down._

Link walked along a grassy ridge and considered on whether or not to return to the kudzu or hide closer to his home and wait for Shad there. He wasn't sure where he would find the scholar first once he was back—after all, the kudzu was where he had left him but he would smell or hear him quicker if he hid near his house. Really, if it wasn't the matter of possibly being caught the closer he came to the village, Link would have waited for him closer to his home.

He was already close to the village as it was. He could pick up faint hints of Bo's pumpkin soup in the breeze. He tided over his stirred hunger with a quail but what he really wanted to munch on was a hot, thick bowl of pumpkin soup. And Bo did make the best pumpkin soup.

As he headed in the direction of the kudzu, deciding it was better for his safety and reminded him less of home, Link heard music. At first, he thought it might have been a traveler passing by but he had heard the song before, just not very often. Sneaking closer, it sounded like Ordona's Hymn, a song played on holy days to honor and pray to the guardian Light Spirit of their province. It was a bright, sprightly, airy melody Bo had once said was supposedly a variation on the Minuet of Forest from the Hero of Time's age, if the legend of the origin of Ordona's Hymn was true.

If someone was playing Ordona's Hymn, then he had to be close to the spirit spring. He knew enough that today wasn't a holy day and while he was curious to know who was praying to Ordona, he wasn't foolish enough to approach the spirit spring.

Until he caught her scent.

_Ilia…_

The last time he had seen her was before he had left in search of the danger only he had sensed. He had seen her through the latticework frowning and glaring hard down on him after he had told Mayor Bo he was leaving. She had not said goodbye to him. She hadn't said anything to him, then or since nearly a day before. She hadn't really needed to—he knew she didn't believe him and disapproved of him running off on essentially a wild goose chase. Anything she would have said most likely he wouldn't have wanted to hear so he had left, equally upset with her as she was with him and without saying goodbye.

Staring inattentively down into a bed of wild violets, Link found himself swimming in a sea of should-haves. He told himself he should have apologized the night before, that no matter how he felt about her at that moment, that he should have said goodbye. He even went as far back as telling himself he should have never told her about the danger he had sensed and then they wouldn't have started arguing in the first place.

There was plenty he wanted to say to her but couldn't. She couldn't even see him. Weeks and months were going to go by without an apology, without word, leaving her anger and worry to build and build until he at last returned to her and she could finally pour out all her tears of frustration, worry, and happiness, if she had any happiness to see him. Really, after all their arguing and the way he had left without saying goodbye, he wouldn't be surprised if her anger boiled down to resentment by the time he could finally come home and apologize.

He hadn't left on the best terms with her and no doubt his long absence would not help matters.

Link looked back in the direction of the spirit spring. No matter how he twisted his reasoning to convince himself otherwise, it was a bad idea. It very much could be or turn into a trap. He was, after all, planning on drawing close to one of the very Light Spirits that had tried to kill him once before. As Shad had once said, it was a stupid idea to run straight to the very monsters trying to kill him and Link very much was planning to do just that.

But if Ilia was there, he had to see her.

There were cliffs where the water cascaded down into the spring he could climb up and peer down at her from but Link much preferred the camouflage and shade of the trees and shrubs along a shorter but still out of reach ridge. He could still hide himself among the green and keep his distance from her and possibly Ordona.

He hurried to reach her quick enough to catch a glimpse of her but leave before she did. Link had his suspicions that if Ordona was going to attack him, the Light Spirit wouldn't raise a barrier to trap him with Ilia present. She, after all, was an innocent in the matter.

Belly to the ground, Link inched himself up toward the edge of the ridge and saw Ilia ceremoniously dancing, twirling, and kicking up water as she finished out the last of Ordona's Hymn on her panpipes.

One final lax turn, she faced the waterfalls and the smooth stones mysteriously engraved with spirals and serpentine vines and let the last notes hang in the air. Slowly, she lowered her panpipes to her side and stared idly into the flowing water. The fairies that fluttered above the spring had made themselves invisible to her, though Link could see the shimmer of their magic reflected in the rippling water.

Link didn't know what she was praying for or what she was thinking but he could see the sadness and longing in her pleading eyes. Whatever she was praying for, she wanted it very much.

"Whether I'm right or wrong, I don't care. I just want him home," she at last said softly. "Please, Ordona…"

Without thinking, Link stepped forward, realized what he was doing, and stopped himself but not without accidentally breaking apart a chunk of the ridge and sending it splashing into the water. Ilia jumped at the sound and then searched for its cause, almost immediately finding Link between the leaves. Her eyes wide, she gasped in shock.

He knew he should run but he stayed, his eyes locked with hers. He wasn't sure why he had stepped toward her. It was just…in the moment…she had asked for him. Her prayers had been for him. He had wanted to show her he was here.

But he wasn't here. Not truly. He was a beast, a monster. His reflection was the same whether in the water or in her eyes. He was not her Link.

Ilia had yet to move. She stood, mouth open, staring up at him. The tremble was slight but it was there—she was shocked, yes, but she was afraid too. Link had no idea what she might have been thinking but she wasn't running and she wasn't screaming. No doubt, she was lost in fear.

Not waiting for her to come back to her senses, Link inched away. As he disappeared from view, he heard her shout and run, of all places, _toward_ the ridge. He heard the slide of her feet and her strain as she tried to climb up after him. Link wasn't sure why. Ilia was brave but she also knew she couldn't face a dragon. Why on earth was she trying to reach him?

Before he could find out why, he turned and ran.

-o-

Returning to the cover of the kudzu, Link waited for Shad to return. Nearly getting found twice in one day was enough and a third time might result in flaming torches and raised pitchforks, if word hadn't already spread dangerously throughout the village. At least, the kids were all right and Ilia too. She even said she wanted to see him again, which was certainly better than the silence and the fed-up looks she had been giving him. As soon as he was Hylian again, he could apologize and everything would be good between them again.

Now it was just a matter of waiting for Shad to return with knowledge of the Feather's location.

And as the last rays of twilight shone over the hills, the scholar did finally return. Link and the chipmunk he had decided to befriend and not eat had heard his crunching, snapping footsteps coming long before he could see him. The chipmunk ran off seconds after, along with several squawking birds. While silent steps in the woods was something that had to be taught (preferably from a young age), Link still had to wonder if Shad was intentionally letting him and all the other creatures of the forest know exactly where he was at every step. Clearly, the scholar had never hunted for himself on any of his expeditions.

Link crawled out from under the kudzu and sat waiting. Raising a hand in greeting, Shad smiled as he walked toward him. Link had to note that his smile seemed a bit half-hearted and forced and more than once, he seemed to bring his eyes down in embarrassment.

"Ah well, I am positive you are eager to learn of what I have uncovered throughout my absence all afternoon," Shad said, keeping his forced smile and wringing his hands a bit in nervousness, "…and well, the truth of the matter is that I discovered nothing throughout the entirety of my investigation. There is absolutely, positively no reference or slightest indication toward a Feather or a potential location in your village history."

Well, the news wasn't exactly shocking to Link but it was still disappointing to hear.

"However, perhaps we have not exhausted all potential leads," he said quickly, trying to raise both their spirits. "And perhaps with a bit more discussion and deliberation, we will deduce a new location that also suits the Singer's parameters. This is not impossible, old boy. Each of us possesses a sound mind. Surely between you and I, we will produce a viable solution."

They talked and they talked and soon the stars and the moon, another sliver closer to growing full, hung over their heads and only Link's golden glow lit the forest around them and they were still no closer to finding a Feather than they were from the beginning. At last, their only plans were to investigate the village once more, with Link present this time, and hope chance and epiphany were on their side.

Link didn't think they were going to find anything in the village, with or without him, but at least they were going to try and take off at dawn if they found nothing. It wasn't much of a plan but it always better to try and not succeed than to do nothing and fail outright.

Heading toward the village, something was apparently on Shad's mind but the scholar took some time gathering his nerve, figuring out his wording, and clearing his throat before finally touching upon it.

"Now I recognize and acknowledge that this perhaps may not be the appropriate time to inquire on such matters, given your incapability of properly responding," he said, "however if I may, it has come to my attention that you and Ilia been quarreling… Is everything all right?"

Not really wanting to answer him and not able to say all that he would have wanted to, Link gave a vague growl.

"Has it been serious at times?"

He didn't need to growl this time. His eyes canted to the forest floor answered for him.

"Ah, well, I see… Forgive me, I only inquired because she requested that I inform you that she is sorry."

Link looked up at him. _She is?_ He asked with his eyes, smiling as he wagged his tail, sending his tail feathers fluttering.

"And if it will help matters, she quite wished to see you to inform you in person and she was quite disappointed when she learned she could not. She, and Rusl for that matter, think you cannot face her yet. Little do they know it is not for the reason they suspect."

_She actually wants to see me,_ Link thought as he stopped walking and sat back on his hind legs. Again, the bittersweet feeling churned in his stomach. He was happy that Ilia wasn't angry with him, that she would more than likely smile and hug him when she could finally see him. But he wanted to see her _now_. He wanted their fighting to be over. He whined softly in frustration and impatience.

"Perk up, old boy," Shad said, crouching down beside him and laying on hand on his feathered frill. "The time will come when you and Ilia will have your reunion and I am certain that when you do, whatever strife that has fallen between you will be washed aside in a tide of love and joy. You have been friends too long for either one of you to simply toss aside all that you have shared."

Link smiled and rubbed his cheek against Shad's arm in thanks. It was the best he could do for now, until he regained his ability to speak and properly thank the scholar simply for his way with words at the right time.

It was late into the night and the village was dark, having snuffed out their lanterns for the night. The smell of green wood smoke still lingered in the air. Shad followed Link down the single dirt road running through the village. Link still had no idea where they could search together that Shad had not checked in the day. He wanted to be hopeful but logic told him there was nothing to be found.

Keeping his voice low so not to accidentally wake anyone, Shad said, "Ah, so where shall we—" And then Shad's stomach grumbled and gurgled. "Pardon me. I say, I do believe I should have partaken of the mayor's soup when he offered."

He didn't know where the first Feather was but Link knew where he could find Ordon catfish for the both of them. Stepping off the small wooden pier behind the general store, Link waded slowly into the river, the sounds of his gentle splashes through the water no different from a fish breaking the surface.

He swam out into the pool toward the rock where the monkey had taken Uli's crib. There was a small bit of land outcropping from the stone walls encircling the mouth of the river that Link used to fish from or rested on after a long afternoon swim. Between the rock and this bit of land, the fish, especially Ordon catfish, liked to gather, probably because Link used to throw bits of bread, pumpkin seeds, and fish bait too small to hook.

He had thought his glowing scales would be a problem and scare off the fish but no, they seemed attracted to him. The problem wasn't frightening them. It was getting them away from him long enough to stick his head underwater to grab one of them without that sending the fish scattering.

Walking along the surrounding walls, Link waited and considered his approach. He was standing by a long crack in the stone when he realized he felt something strange. It felt like…a draft. He swore he felt air flowing. He could feel air on his snout. He could blow air between the rock. That was when he realized it wasn't simply a crack in the stone but a gap between two large boulders.

And if there was a gap, there had to be something behind it.

He looked back at Shad, waiting on the pier, made a low rumble in his throat, and flicked his tail out of the water in a come-here gesture. With some slight hesitation toward getting wet, the scholar eventually swam out.

"Yes, old boy?" Shad asked, floating beside him. "Have you discovered something?"

Another low grumble, Link scratched at the stone.

"You mean there is something behind there?" he asked, his eyes bright with anticipation, and Link nodded. "Absolutely wonderful, old boy! …How ever do we enter?"

Link had no idea. If he had his water bombs, maybe that would work but Link had a feeling that even explosives wouldn't bust the rock. After all, one year, a whole crateful worth of fireworks had burst against the same kind of stone and left nothing but singe marks and ash. Didn't even take off a layer of dust.

They could try and break the stone by themselves but Link wasn't sure how helpful he could be in his dragon form and Shad, well… It usually took Bo and Rusl all day to break a pumpkin-sized chunk of this stone into gravel and Link didn't think Shad could lift the pickax over his head, much less hit the stone hard and enough times to crack. This just wasn't his kind of work. This was Link's kind of work.

Breaking the stone by themselves wouldn't work either, he realized. It wasn't exactly a quiet plan. The whole village would be up and looking after the first couple of strikes.

Staring down into the water, Link searched for a new idea.

"There doesn't seem to be any markings or keyhole," Shad said, thinking aloud as he ran his hand up along the relatively smooth wall of stone. "I say, there has to be some sort of switch nearby. After all, if this is potentially a door, it must possess a means of opening and closing."

A switch, yes, there had to be a switch… He knew Shad was right and there had to be a switch but where in a fishing pond would there be a switch? Link had swam the entire river a thousand times before and had never once found anything strange, anything that might be a switch, a key, or would open any rocks at the mouth of the river. There was nothing around them but fish and a giant rock—

A rock, Link now noticed, that happened to have a small piece sticking out at the bottom and looked kind of like the pillars he had pushed to open new rooms and pathways. He even remembered joking with Ilia when they were swimming in the pool as kids that the rock was such a key and they had both swam down and tried to push it open to no success.

Back then, they had just been playing…

Taking a deep breath, Link swam to the bottom of the fishing pond, pressed his forehead against the small piece of rock, and pushed. It did not budge. Link pressed harder. He heard Shad's warped voice calling him through the water but Link kept pushing. He put all his strength, clawed deep into the pond bed and pushed and pushed. Finally, Link heard a click boom under the water and the rock turned. As it clicked once more into place, Link swam up for air and was immediately wrapped up in a hug from Shad.

"You found it, old boy! I know you have!" Shad said, laughing in joy, and then coughed after he swallowed some water.

The stone wall rumbled and shook. The water vibrated and slapped against the rock. Link and Shad (and no doubt the entire village) could feel the tremors as the two quaking stones pulled away and the gap widened before them. Suddenly, the river surged and the current swallowed them and sent them twisting and turning underground.


	10. Chapter 10

Story Title: Our Wind Will Shake the Earth and Stars

Disclaimer: The rights and ability to do whatever I wanted with Twilight Princess… Pfft, why would I want that?

Author's Notes: Thanks to mysticalgems, Tapix, Kitade, FFlove190 for reviewing.

I am positive a lot of readers thought I had dropped this story for lack of any updates in nearly a year. I had set this fic aside during my holiday specials but once I could work on it, life sort of got in the way and then I was hit with the worst writer's block for this chapter. Literally pulling teeth would've been an easier endeavor.

But "Wind" is definitely back in my rotation and I hope this chapter will be well worth the long delay, especially for my regular readers, how ever many of you still remain and remember this story exists… Originally, the chapter was going to be a bit longer but I decided to end it where I did because I think I have enough material for a full chapter from what I planned on doing and well, I wanted to update early just to prove that I'm still working on this story. As such, it ends on a cliffhanger.

I'll be working on the next chapter immediately though, provided Hyrule Warriors doesn't provide too much of a distraction when it comes out on Friday. It's hardly a distraction when it can be called 'inspirational research', right?

As always, thanks for reading.

-o-

Chapter Ten: Ordon Underground

-o-

The surge spat them out and drained away through the small square gaps in the metal floor grates. Shad gasped and coughed up water as he pushed himself onto his forearms and crawled onto the dry, sand-colored stone. Knocking the water out of his ears and lining his senses back in order, he opened his surprisingly still bespectacled eyes and was shocked to see what lie beneath the humble farmlands of Ordon.

There was a stone passageway lit by mounted torches that gave way to a turn and how ever more twists and corridors and secrets. Where it led or how long the path was, the scholar did not know but was eager to see what lay buried for eons. There was not even a passing trace of a suggestion that such pathways existed beneath Ordon in none of the mayor's history books and records. Shad surmised and hoped to prove that the corridors and the chambers it led to existed before Ordon Village's establishment.

Link lay scowling beside Shad. The water had soaked and matted his feathers into clumps of gold and white-gold needles. While Link was regularly a patron of puddles, ponds, rivers, a dragon's feathers and scales were not as partial to water as tunics and bare Hylian skin was. He stretched and shook out the water, sending spray flying everywhere, especially toward Shad's face.

Muttering his protestations, Shad raised his arm and closed his eyes to shield himself from the second-hand shower. He intended on formally reprimanding Link but as soon as he could open his eyes, he was blinded by his natural golden glow suddenly sparking in brilliance. Heat vapor rippled around Link and the once comforting presence of Link's body warmth was searing to his skin. Shad saw redness spreading across his exposed hand. Unfortunately, the passageway was not very wide—nor tall, as Shad soon realized, as he hunched down to keep from knocking into the sandy-yellow stone. He could not distance himself from Link. Not well.

"Are you doing that?" Shad asked, following two to three strides behind Link as he blazed the way, his claws clacking against the stone. "I mean, I see that you are…however, is this sudden radiating sauna of yours intentional?"

Link shook his head no.

"I see… Merely a survival response then, a means of restoring your body temperature to standard," the scholar considered, taking deeper notice of his drenched feathers in his closely folded wings. "Seems your wings will be out of commission until they sufficiently dry. No pressing need for a take-off anyway. I have traversed a few caverns and catacombs in my short life and few of them provide adequate conditions for flight. Except for keese and you do not share characteristics with keese."

_Except you do seem to be on fire at the moment, and you do scare me at times, not all the time like keese but some of the time, _Shad swiftly reconsidered, sweat beading on his brow, as he turned the first corner and followed Link as he went ahead and peered around the next turn.

Shad had hoped for some form of hieroglyphics, or any sort of carving or fresco painted along the walls to give indication of the time period and civilization that constructed these tunnels. So far, he had seen no other sign of intelligent construction but sandy-yellow square block piled on more of the same blocks for seemingly endlessly twisting paths. The scholar had swiftly deduced that they were in some sort of underground maze, not all of which was sufficiently illuminated but, with Link's natural glow surrounding them, they had more than enough light.

A turn right, a circle to the left, a gap in the straightaway, Shad and Link took turns deciding their next direction and more often than not found out their chosen paths led nowhere. Neither could decide who was more correct and which of them should take point, though Shad usually deferred to Link since he happened to be out in front, which the scholar swiftly realized was a poor reason to accept Link's directional decisions.

Between Shad keeping mental note of the layout and carefully selecting his route based on several conjectured possibilities he laid out before himself and Link going wherever sense and intuition took him, forcing an increasingly annoyed and left behind Shad stranded in his thoughts to hasten after him, it was no wonder they found themselves at yet another dead end.

"You really should be more patient, old boy," Shad said, voice a bit pinched, as he crouched along, pressing a hand against the stone wall with each step as a guide and balance. They were making their way up a long, straight corridor that had ended in another entry-less wall. "Perhaps we would not be backtracking so much if you allotted me enough time to consider our route. This haphazard, willy-nilly gut-feeling approach is clearly not making us any headway."

After he shook off a swarm of scurrying, smoldering poison mite, which incidentally caught fire as soon as they crawled onto Link's superheated scales, Link looked back and breathed a sharp, bullish snort in disagreement.

"Now I am not one against exploration," Shad said sternly, eyebrows sharply sloping downward in irritation, as he waited for the spike trap—one of many so far—to slide back down so he could pass over, "however, we have discovered nothing of interest but our own shadows because of your insistence and pure stubbornness."

He believed Link was ignoring him now as the inflamed dragon-boy steadily proceeded on without a response.

Though he did not accurately know how much time they had exactly wasted, Shad did know the chronological measurement would be in hours and after several hours of remaining in the same hunched over position, his shoulders were burning and his ache was now steadily coursing its way down his spine and into his lower back. His knees were also feeling the strain of his lowered stance. Ah, what he would not give to be able to stand upright… It certainly would have been a booster to his shriveling morale.

"What in heavens is the purpose of this subterranean maze?" Shad said aloud, his body aches and lack of answers (or any interest to occupy his mind) causing a bit of a whine to slip in his voice. "There is no indication of this being an ancient aqueduct nor do I believe a booby-trapped maze would make due for an adequate escape route. Certainly there is some significance or the ancestral society that constructed this stone web never would have bothered to build it in the first place. One does not place a trial such as this to guard nothing, unless they are ma—"

Shad silenced himself immediately and stared at his hand on the wall. There was nothing different about his hand or the wall for that matter. He had simply felt something. A vibration. And much against his liking, it was not magical in origin.

"D-Did you feel that? Tell me you felt or otherwise sensed something," Shad said urgently, his eyes locked on Link and awaiting for his slightest signs of an answer.

Link growled deep in throat. It was neither a confirmed yes or no, only that he did not like what was going on any more than Shad did. Lifting his head, he smelled the musty air, his nostrils flaring noticeably. He then growled once more, bearing his teeth.

Shad hurried along to keep up with Link's sudden haste. He did not need to repeat his question to know that Link had indeed sensed something out in the maze. The uncertainty chipped at him. Knowing that there was something unseen wandering the maze searching for foolhardy trespassers, a creature that no doubt knew every path and false end while he and Link were left to resort to blind choices sent urgency rushing through his nerves. They needed to locate the maze's exit and locate it soon.

The path they were on, however, seemed to leading them closer. Though his hand was trembling uncontrollably, there was no doubt the vibrations in the walls and now the floor were growing deeper and more pronounced. He swore he heard a low growl rumble in the distance.

Sweat running down the side of his face, some of it from fear and the rest from keeping closer distance to Link, Shad peered over his shoulder, behind and around gaps and crossroads for the beast that lurked within the maze. He knew they were easy targets. Between Link being a beacon and himself crouched down in a position highly averse to running, they were sitting cucco.

_No, no, we are not, _Shad reconsidered. _Cucco, even sitting ones, can swiftly rise up and fell their assailants with swift pecks and assistance from their flock. Only one of us could accomplish that same feat and that individual is most positively not me._

They were very, very close to it. Shad could hear its guttural grumbling, its loud sniffs of the air. Link hurried on and Shad did his best to follow, covering his own mouth with his hand to quiet his muttered, squeaky cries. If memory served him right, they would end up back at the crossroad. Shad already knew which fork they would take, being the only one they had not attempted yet. He prayed to the Goddesses that the gap they just passed was not the direction they needed to take and that they had slipped by the beast undiscovered.

And then turning out from that very gap, the beast roared, its sound booming and powerful enough to shake the walls. Shad immediately turned around as soon as it roared and saw it was a naked man, all muscle, with a head of an Ordon goat. It was hunchbacked and coated in matted, grizzled fur. Its horns were broken, split at an angle so there were two sharp, chest-piercing points lowered into position as the goat-man lowered its head and charged.

Shad's brain and body seized up and readied for imminent death as his knees buckled and he dropped to the stone floor. Before he hit the stone, Link wrapped his tail tightly around his waist and ran. Dragged off his feet and head knocked forward, Shad found himself suddenly snapped back into temporary clarity and awareness again. He saw the goat-man, raging white foam slinging from its scarred mouth, charging after him as Link raced up corridor after corridor, a right turn, a left turn, through a side path.

This was it, the scholar realized. After all his explorations through poisoned arrow-trapped tunnels, nights cowering from roaming bulblins, the many, many scraps and cuts and times he literally almost lost his head with the Group, either during Ashei's approximation to training or out in the field, his absolute and permanent end was going to be at the ungulate beast's brutal hands.

Link's golden light cast deepening shadows across the goat-man's bowed head, its face and eyes obscured, deformed, and demonic. Its guttural roar, the rapid clacks of its hoofed feet against stone were nearly inaudible to Shad over his own screams. Shad drew his legs in and protected himself as best as he could as he skidded and bounced off the floor and banged into the walls as Link rushed down straightways and twisted sharply around turns in an effort to outmaneuver and escape the goat-man.

In what he was positive was the last moments of his short lifespan, Shad was reminded of his mother requesting he pursue a teaching position and debated in his final seconds whether it would have been better and more fulfilling to live to a ripe age with a crushed spirit or to die suddenly of a crushed body amidst pursuing what he loved in the field.

Ornate metal gates rose up behind them as Link raced down a center corridor. The goat-man barreled through each one, ripping through and crinkling the metal as if it were parchment. It maybe slowed it down a second or two but the beast was still undeterred and rampaged on. Short of maybe a stone wall sliding out in front of it, Shad did not believe any gate could detain it long enough for Link and Shad to make headway in their escape.

Until it reached the final ornate gate made of another metal entirely gilded in gold and red lacquer and discovered it could not simply run riot right on through. After recovering from stumbling backwards from the shock and reverberations, the goat-man rammed and pushed but the gate held.

Shad was delirious with joy and relief and grinned through his tears. They could make it. For as long as the gate held, they could put that much distance between them. They could be long gone before the metal crumpled.

_We might actually survive, _the scholar thought as laughter bubbled up from his throat in elation.

And then Link skidded to a quick stop and unwrapped his tail from Shad. Every bit of his effervescence fizzled away, leaving only a black lump of terror rolling down his spine, anchoring him to the floor as he gaped at the snarling, bellicose beast.

_Why in heavens are we stopping? _he wondered, his mind racing to determine a sound reasoning for their asinine cease of action._ We are not safe. The beast remains before us, stopped tenuously no doubt,_ Shad flitted his eyes to his left and then his right. There were no other paths to take. _I say, we are trapped and the beast will break its bonds and that shall be our end! _

Link nudged his forehead against Shad's shoulder roughly, knocking him on his back, and growled, the sound more urging him to move _now_ rather than angry. Preparing to reprimand him sternly for pushing him down, the scholar then followed Link's fervent nods directing him to a point behind him and saw a square opening, large enough for Link and Shad to crawl through one at a time. Link growled once more and Shad scrambled onto his forearms and crawled as Link stood between him and the goat-man as the metal began to bend at its push.

Clouds of fine dirt left still for decades, perhaps even centuries stirred around him as Shad inched his way down the sloping shaft. Along with the scent of dry earth, there was the faint smell of stagnancy, either of still water or decayed rat. Shad crawled through the dark, coughing through the motes of dirt until the shaft gave way to an open space.

Feeling his way around, still shaking, his heart still pulsating somewhere between his throat and chest cavity, Shad crawled over and pressed his back against a wall and waited. He fumbled around his rucksack for his lantern, wondering if it would be any use to light it if Link was sure to come soon. He certainly would have rather been able to see his surroundings than to sit foolishly and vulnerably in the dark, however, though he neither heard nor believed he was in any further danger.

Just as he located his lantern and the necessities required to light it, he saw golden light warm the tunnel walls beside him. Gradually, being a tighter fit for him than it had for Shad, Link crawled out and stretched his back and opened up his finally dried wings a bit, though he could not spread them out fully. The strident screech of metal bending was covered over soon by the wrathful roar of the thwarted goat-man rumbling through the shaft and walls.

"S-Seems we made it here safely," Shad said, a little nervous waver in his voice. "No harm befell you, old boy, correct?"

Link made a lazy growl and glanced at his wings. He seemed fine, though the close confinement was beginning to irk him. Normally, Link did not have any issues with caverns and the underground, though normally Link was not a winged dragon forced into narrow, tight corridors and even smaller, uncomfortable square shafts. All winged creatures, even keese, preferred open, airy locations to make better use of their flight capabilities. These cavern tunnels were better suited to the Mogma from the Sky Era.

"Shall we continue?" he said, rising to his…well, crouched feet, ducking as he realized the ceiling was still as low as the previous section. Indeed, the civilization that constructed this maze must have been small in stature, child-sized even. "Well, at least, there is not a goat-man pursuing us here as well."

Link gave an as-far-as-we-know rumble and half rolled his eyes as he once again led the way.

"Yes, that is true, though I doubt this environment would sustain two goat-men. Actually, I am not certain how one managed to survive this long…" the scholar considered. "Perhaps there is a pathway to the surface, however you or Rusl would have located such a beast if it hunted above, correct?"

Link adamantly nodded.

"And this is your first knowledge of its existence below the village?" Shad said and Link agreed. "I say, how it is possible that it survived this lon—_ah_, what in heavens!" He smacked a black lump of fur perched on his supply pouches around his belt and realized as it squeaked and scurried off that it was a giant rat…with his rupee pouch in its filthy fangs.

A sharp whip from Link's tail put an end to the vermin's escape. It lay on its side, dead, though it was possibly just stunned. Gingerly, Link picked up his pouch, tossed it back to him, and then kept an eye on the rat. Shad wondered what the necessity was for. Perhaps he heard its heart still beating. Rats were not particularly dangerous, aside from the plagues they carried and the pain and infections their bites inflicted. Still Link's extreme vigilance was more than matters called for.

But Link was keeping close watch on the rat. He leaned in, nostrils flaring, and then in one smooth motion scooped up the rat and swallowed it whole. Bile cascaded up the scholar's throat as he held back the contents of his stomach tenuously. …Seemed his vigilance was less so much due to protectiveness than purely hunger.

"Heavens, old boy," Shad said, turning his head away and fighting off the dry heaves. "It would be…most appreciated if you ceased doing…_that_. And here I believed that Ashei possessed the worst sense of propriety…"

Link grumbled low in his throat.

"Do not excuse your behavior because you are a dragon. You are Hylian at heart and in true form and mind you it is not required for you to consume meat so…fresh," Shad said. "Perhaps it is considered permissible in Ordon, which I highly doubt, however I consider it absolutely, positively disgusting and I adamantly request you cease consuming uncooked beasts at least in front of me. I say, when proper cooking is not plausible, I will soon carry fruits and nuts to stave off your unshakable impulse to consume incapacitated enemies."

Link breathed a sharp, dismissive snort.

The scholar furrowed his brow in annoyance. "Do not think I did not hear that, old boy. Might I remind you I possess no inkling of how to proceed about tending to a dragon's aching stomach or, heaven forbid, you contract worms from consuming vermin. Are you even aware of the latest studies on parasites? Some are so minute they require the utilization of magnified lenses to be observable and they are far more debilitating and deadly than any weapon in existence."

He could have sworn Link was laughing.

"It will be no laughing matter when you are doubled over in pain," Shad warned but it was clear Link was not worried. Hyrule in danger, especially his loved ones, seemed to be the only thing that ever made Link truly worried. The possibility of himself getting sick, burnt, blown up, trampled, and any other serious threat to his life never registered as a cause for concern. His general life philosophy seemed to be to try anything—food, combat technique, random levers—and let what happened to him happen.

Shad did not agree that this was a necessarily wise approach to life but he did surmise that a certain level of risk-taking was a prerequisite of Heroes. _I simply hope he does not one day cross the line between courage and stupidity,_ Shad thought, peering up at the stone ceiling, wisps of prayers floating about his mind.

Once again, he followed Link deep into the underground. The scholar was disappointed to discover little difference between one section of the maze from another. There were some brown water stains, however, seeping down the gaps as they edged onward, indicating moisture was prevalent at one time.

_Easily could have been run-off seeping through underground springs or wells,_ Shad surmised_. There is little indication of our exact depth below the earth's surface, after all._

Shad did begin to notice a shift in the maze's construction around him. Gradually, alternate paths ending in false ends became more obvious—their paths shortening until they were nothing more than what Shad referred to as little closets branching off from the central road—and eventually the side paths stopped presenting themselves at all. The maze had become a labyrinth, with only one path to traverse.

"Certainly draws at lot of the fuss and conjecture out," Shad spoke aloud as they made their way through another ring of the labyrinth. He was not so much talking to Link than simply talking for the sake of talking. "Ah, where shall we try next? No need, just follow the winding way. You shall arrive at your destination in good time."

After a while and more of the same stones, Shad did settle on a thought to occupy his mind. "The very existence of this elaborate underground monstrosity is a wonder in of itself. What in heavens was it required for and why is there such a beast patrolling its walls? The people that constructed this did so for a reason, but why is that so?"

Link growled and wrapped the end of his tail around Shad's wrist and pulled him forward as if to say he should walk faster so he could find out sooner. He rather did not appreciate the tug forward as Shad had nearly tripped over his own feet but he had to admit Link's method of communication was effectively truthful and direct, to say in the least.

Meandering through ring after ring, Link and Shad were surprised to see what appeared to be an ordinary doorway at the end of what seemed to be the final passage. Hurrying along, they discovered at the end a chamber of moderate side, large enough to evenly hold Link and Shad with high enough ceilings to permit the scholar a well-deserved break from crouching. Unfortunately, the endeavor in solving the maze did not wield much reward.

The final room contained no entranceway, no stairs leading elsewhere. It was a plain room of the same water-stained stone as before, though there was a far more pronounced wet, musty smell in the air. The only object of interest was a central statue of a young, presumably Hylian girl with her hands outstretched and raised high above her as if in offering. Shad bowed his head and gradually began to accept defeat.

"I am beyond disappointed, old boy," he said, shaking his bowed head, and paced slowly around his available half of the chamber. "To think we risked our lives on a hope to locate a Feather of Glory, only to discover our one lead is false. Indeed there was always the possibility this location was never associated with said Feathers but it was our one promising clue, the only one we possessed—" Hearing a particularly fibrous, crunching noise, Shad looked and saw Link munching on what were definitely little baby pumpkins, some still green, others ripe and bright orange. "Now where in blazes did you get pumpkins?"

Link offered him a short nod up and once Shad followed his guidance, he observed that the entire ceiling was an entangled growth of pumpkin vines in which pumpkins hung upside down in varying states between flowering and mature fruit.

"I say now, this is just bizarre," Shad said in awe as a water droplet dripped from above onto his spectacles. "I do believe some law of nature, whether it is gravity or fundamental requirements for pumpkin production, is being broken here. This is…unnatural."

Link rumbled his throat and tipped his head to the side as if he did not mind and proceeded to enjoy a very familiar taste of home.

"You know better than I that this should not occur," Shad said, his voice edged with a slight bit of annoyance at Link's easy preoccupation with consuming the pumpkins rather than investigation or conjecturing on their existence. "This alone should inform us that something is not right here. …That must be a sign signifying that there is more to this room than there appears."

Shad began glancing about the room, scrutinizing and searching for any little detail. He asked Link to tear away at the pumpkin vines above and he did so but at his own pace while he disposed of the many pumpkins he also brought down with their vines. It was very clear he believed in the logic of not letting perfectly good food go to waste. Shad wanted to argue and hurry him along but Link was bigger than him and stronger and he could definitely ignore Shad and eat all he wished and Shad would not be able to lift even just his head off the floor. If there was anything of importance among the vines, Shad would have to wait and see in time, at least until Link's dragon stomach was satiated, which if it could hold the same amount of food as his Hylian stomach would probably entail the consumption of every single pumpkin.

And then he noticed a few tiny scratches and nicks on the girl's hands. Upon closer inspection, the marks appeared to be a primitive alphabet. Shad was familiar with every early Hylian script known in existence, but these figures only partially resembled the earliest known writings. The symbols actually appeared to possess more of a root origin stemming from Sky Writing than Hylian.

The matter was that he recognized three of the marking as being very close but not identical to actual Sky Writing. The issue was that while the marks looked like certain words, they could very much mean something else entirely in actuality.

"Look sharp, old boy," he said, still bowed by the small statue, as Link turned his head in show of attention. "There appears to be a rudimentary message outlined on the statue's hands. While there is a possible margin of error, I would best surmise its translation to approximately be…'I give and sustain all life'."

Shad rose to standing but stood peering down at the message and held his chin in deep contemplation. "Now the Goddess associated with bringing all forms and essence of life to Hyrule is Farore," he thought aloud, wishing Link would attempt to quiet his rustling among the vines. "There was once a long-standing belief of Farore blessing and standing beside the Kokiri, alongside the chosen Hylian people, to the extent that ancient artists often depicted Farore as a Kokiri or as having a child-like appearance and demeanor."

"If I am correct in assuming this statue represents Farore, the solution must be that we must offer something of importance to the Goddess. However, the only artifact I can recall of potential significant connection to Farore is the Kokiri's Emerald, mentioned briefly in the Hero of Time's story but is never heard of in history or located ever again." Shad circled around and stepped away in frustration as he groaned and ran his hand through his hair. "We unwind one knot only to bring forth ten others. How are we to obtain any progress in our search if we must scour the kingdom blindly for yet another lost treasure?"

Shad turned back around and looked to Link for some sort of spark of an idea, concurrence, support, something. He groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyed disbelief as he watched Link place an albeit perfectly proportionate pumpkin onto the statue's hands.

"I say, it is a shame you cannot adequately speak, old boy, as I would very much like to hear your reasoning as to why a _pumpkin_ is the correct answer," he said, a stern edge in his voice.

And then the statue's arms lowered, stone grating on stone, a stone column rose in the open doorway, essentially sealing their escape, and water began to flow from tiny circular openings along the bottom of the walls into the small room.

Water lapped at Shad's ankles as he rushed around in panic and fear. "You have certainly done it, old boy. This cannot end well…"

Over the steady rush of flowing water, the scholar faintly heard through the stone walls the distinct click and plunge of levers and weights, of gears stirring and whirring to life. Soon after, large slabs of the stone floor began to sink and fold away like a lotus flower inversely blooming. Bit by bit, the angle of the rocks grew steeper. Shad pressed himself against the wall and watched in terror as the slippery floor inched him closer and closer into a dark pit.

Link attempted the same staving measures but on account his body took up half the floor space, there was little he could do. He fought for as long as he could before sliding into the pit, his claws leaving white scratch marks in the stone. Shad called out to him and watched his descent until his golden light faded beyond sight.

_It is inevitable…_Shad thought, his body trembling, as he squeezed his eyes shut to impede his tears from flowing. _I shall join him soon enough. There is no requirement to prolong my suffering when I am fully aware of the final outcome. Within similar circumstances as this, it is best to embrace inevitability…_

As his boots began to slide, Shad closed his eyes, released a calming breath, and fell away from the wall. He followed the flowing water into darkness. Moist air and the smell of wet, loamy earth and hay rushed past his face as he plummeted down and farther down still. And then he hit water.

The water slapped him alert. He opened his eyes to see nothing beneath the black water. He had barely enough time and sense to grab hold of his spectacles before the swift current twisted and tossed him along at a swiftness beyond frenzy. His nose and windpipe burned from inhaling a measure of water. Shad wanted to cough. He needed air. He tried to break the surface but the current rolled him aimlessly about and he found no river bottom or wall to push off from. Fat air bubbles escaped his mouth. Shad covered his mouth as he struggled to deny instinct ordering him to take in air at once when there was none to partake.

He held his breath, even as his chest felt ready to burst. Every last bit of air had escaped his body. Shad writhed within the current. Eventually succumbing to the pain and natural impulse, he opened his mouth, expecting to draw in liquid, when the most merciful air filled his lungs. In shock, he opened his eyes, only to close them just as suddenly from the unexpected burst of bright light. And then he fell out of the water and landed on something quite solid and hot to the touch. It stirred beneath him and rumbled at his sudden presence atop of it. Shad soon realized he had fallen from a massive waterspout and had landed on Link.

"Are you all right, old boy?" he asked, his voice a bit hoarse from breathing and coughing up water. He quickly placed his spectacles back on to make a visual check. Link's growl seemed to indicate yes but he was very irritated that his wings were once again soaking wet.

Once he felt a little less waterlogged, Shad saw they were in a massive circular chamber of blue-gray stone. White moonlight shone through the ornate bird and clover-shaped skylights above, casting a silver glow on the inner surrounding ring of support columns. Many waterspouts, large and small, lined the upper portion of the walls and steadily poured water into overflowing fountains and flooded the floor with ankle-deep water. Patches of green moss discolored the stone in moist places while verdant flowering vines clung to the walls, sprouted from cracks, clogged spouts, and twisted around column bases.

"I surmise we have reached aboveground, if the moonlight is not a hallucination brought forth by physical head trauma or mental breakdown," Shad said, rising to standing. "However, I say, I do not suppose you have ever located the exterior of this place in any of your hunts through the woods, old boy?"

As he peered about with the same curiosity mixed with uncertainty as Shad, Link's growl indicated a no.

"Ah, I see." Shad nodded as he stepped forward. Little bright gold fireflies began to float past them and appeared all across the chamber. He fleetingly watched the fireflies gather closely. "Rather exquisite architecture. It is a fascinating locale to say the least."

The fireflies swarmed, creating a golden mist in the center of the chamber. And then over the steady surge of flowing water around them came the sound of a single water droplet dripping. The waterspouts began to flood the room with white-gold water. Link rushed ahead of Shad and nudged him back in a clear indication to stay back before turning back to the swirling gold mist and crouching into a battle stance. As tendrils of white-gold water reached for and circled around and gave form to the gold mist, Link growled and bared his fangs.

"Welcome, brave youth and friend," Ordona said as the Ordon goat-bodied Light Spirit manifested itself. "Welcome to my inner sanctum. It was once a holy site of purity and peace where the wayward could be made whole again but war and thirst for power corrupted the natural energy of the sanctified land until I reestablished order. Fear caused the world to abandon this place. It is lost and forgotten."

The air began to stir around them, in the same way that the wind stirs and sways the highest treetops moments before a great storm. "…There is much in this world that is lost and forgotten," Ordona insisted. "These such things need to remain that way."


End file.
